TheCable

Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, says he can drive from Abuja to Kaduna without security escort.

Keyamo said this on Tuesday in a pre-recorded interview aired on Channels TV.

The about 155km Kaduna-Abuja highway is one of the feared roads and has witnessed several attacks by bandits who block the road to kill and abduct passengers.

On March 28, a train on its way from Abuja was attacked by bandits in Kaduna state. Several persons were killed while many were abducted during the attack.

But Keyamo, who also doubles as the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council spokesperson, when asked questions on the state of security in Nigeria, said he can comfortably drive on the road without security aides.

“Some people do, I can do it. I can do it,” Keyamo muttered repeatedly.

“I saw headlines last week saying that I said insecurity has been brought to an all-time low by Buhari. I didn’t say so. It’s still the season of wrong headline. I said what we met on the ground, Boko Haram in the north-east. I was specific and so they quoted me generally to say Boko Haram and insecurity throughout the whole country. I only said Boko Haram in the north-east, it has not been totally wiped out, but we have reduced this significantly.

“All the roads that lead to Chibok and Damboa in Borno, they are now passable.”

“The issue of the farmer-herder crisis came to a height between 2017 and 2020. The World Terrorism Index said so. Not me. The body also said the attacks reduced so much in 2021. And further reduced again now in 2022. So, it’s a downward spiral in terms of farmer-herder crisis.

“In terms of banditary and kidnapping, they are on the rise in the north-west and some parts of the middlebelt. I have admitted that.”