Like many Nigerians, he couldn’t bear to see insecurity go unchecked. He spoke truth to power, but got fired from his job as Kano Governor, Umar Ganduje’s, aide!
But there is another worry: The whereabouts of the sacked Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Tanko Yakasai, is unknown, leading to fears in some quarters.
Tanko got the boot for his sustained unguarded comments and utterances against President Muhammadu Buhari and All Progressives Congress (APC), which his boss belongs to, and has reiterated his commitment to, including the policies and programmes being implemented by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Governor, in a statement, cautioned other government appointees to mind their utterances or be shown the door, but then the insecurity for which Tanko was sacked is a source of worry to President Muhammadu Buhari, who has described the latest abduction of hundreds of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State as inhumane and totally unacceptable, sending out a strong warning to bandits and their sponsors.
Tanko was sacked for the same headache of the President. He told the President to shape up or ship out, if he is unable to deal with insecurity.
Tanko spoke on Friday while reacting to students’ abduction at Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
He said the kidnap over 300 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Talata Marafa in Zamfara State, a week after bandits abducted students in Kagara, Niger State, shows that the government has failed its primary responsibility.
His words on Twitter: “Clearly, we as APC government, at all levels, have failed Nigerians in the number 1 duty we were elected to do which is to secure lives & properties. Not a single day goes by without some insecurity in this land. This is a shame! Deal with terrorists decisively or resign.
“Each time another tragedy happens, we lament, condemn, create a hashtag, the govt pretends to do something, no concrete steps to prevent re-occurrence, and then we repeat the process. To what end? Where are those saddled with the responsibility?
“Just last week, it was #freekagaraboys, today we have a new hashtag, #RescueJangebeGirls; who knows tomorrow what hashtag we will come up with? Perhaps one for ourselves when we get caught up in one of these daring attacks. This is sad & heartbreaking; I feel helpless & hopeless.”
But reacting to the incident on Friday, President Buhari said that “this administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments.”
According to the President, “no criminal group can be too strong to be defeated by the government,” adding that, “the only thing standing between our security forces and the bandits are the rules of engagement.”
“We have the capacity to deploy massive force against the bandits in the villages where they operate, but our limitation is the fear of heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages who might be used as human shields by the bandits,” he said, stressing that “our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed.”
President Buhari noted that “a hostage crisis is a complex situation that requires maximum patience in order to protect the victims from physical harm or even brutal death at the hands of their captors.”
He warned the bandits: “Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution.”
The President appealed to state governments “to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously.”
He also advised states and local governments to be more proactive by improving security around schools and their surroundings.