By Laleye Dipo Minna
Against the speculations that he is the brain behind the rising cases of thuggery in Minna and some other cities, the All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate for the 2023 election Alhaji Umar Mohammed Bago has declared, ” I am not a thug and i don’t breed thugs”.
Bago also said that he will join the state and its security operatives in the bid to rid Minna and other towns of thugs and other criminal elements.
The APC standard bearer spoke at a “Strategic Security Stakeholders meeting” organised by the state government to find solutions to youth restiveness in the state capital where he also said protection of the lives and property of the people had been his major concern.
Bago also said he is not a thug and will not tolerate thuggery in his Constituency and the state at large, adding: “I am saying it loud and clear that anyone caught disrupting the peace of our state and it’s people should be decisively dealt with according to the provisions of the law and I am prepared to support the security agencies to ensure that the menace of hooliganism is permanently curbed on our streets”
Insisting that he has never been and will not be part of the disturbances in Minna in recent times, Bago who is also the member representing Chanchaga Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives told the gathering at the Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre that his major preoccupation had been the gainful empowerments of youths, women and the underprivileged through skills acquisition all his life.
“If and when I become the Governor of Niger state I will continue to focus on youths, women development and also the aged”.
Meanwhile the state government has read the riot act to all Area boys disturbing the peace of the state saying it is now ready to deal decisively with anyone arrested.
Government has also put all the security agencies on red alert arrest anyone found breaking the law.
