Diri: Army, Others Should Make Security Collective Responsibility

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has charged security agencies to work in collaboration with the people in order to end the country’s intractable security challenges and enable Nigeria to maintain its status as the “Giant of Africa.”

Diri stated this on Tuesday when the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Farouk Yahaya and other principal army officers paid him a courtesy visit in the Government House, Yenagoa.

In a press release that was issued yesterday by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, the governor restated the need for all Nigerians to join hands as a people to accelerate the country’s pace of development.

The governor said: “We cannot afford to disunite our country because we need to be together and work together to make this country one of the best.

“This can only be done when we work as one people whose development had been stunted and strive to fast-track it.”

He congratulated Yahaya on his appointment as Nigeria’s 22nd Chief of Army Staff and prayed that God would grant him the wherewithal to stamp out insecurity in the country.

“We believe that with your appointment as the 22 Chief of Army Staff in the Nigerian Army, God who has brought you in will give you the wherewithal and support to bring the level of insecurity we have witnessed for sometime down to a point that Nigeria will actually stand up as Giant of Africa.”

Diri remarked that security is a collective responsibility and commended the security agencies in the state for their gallant efforts at ensuring peace and stability.

Yahaya, in his remark, told the governor that he was on an operational visit to the 16th Brigade, which is under the command of the 6th Division of the Nigerian Army and the Joint Task Force.

He commended the state government for its support to security agencies to enable them to perform their duties optimally and solicited the people’s cooperation in checking criminal activities in the state.