Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau state has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to restore military checkpoints in the state so that movement of suspected insurgents can be effectively checked.
The governor made this appeal on Monday after being led round the scenes of the bomb blasts. He also visited the injured victims at the Plateau Specialist Hospital.
DAILY POST recalls that President Buhari had directed the removal of all military checkpoints nationwide, insisting that internal security should be handled by the police. His government later relaxed the order, allowing checkpoints only in high-risk areas in the northeast.
Addressing journalists, Lalong said: “Today I made an appeal to Mr. President to please allow us to have checkpoints. This is because without the security checkpoints, people can flow from all angles and attack innocent people.”
He went on to warn residents of Jos to desist from riding their motorcycles forthwith or face the full weight of the law. He insisted that commercial motorcycle operations remain banned.
He informed that a task force had been constituted to ensure that cyclists strictly adhere to the ban, which was initiated by his predecessor and passed into law by the 7th Assembly in the state.
Stressing that, “We have a taskforce in place to keep motorcyclists off the streets and as a government we are going to push that to any level,” the governor warned that “Any motorcyclist who refuses to respect the law will see what will happen to him in the next few days. This is because it is part of lawlessness we are experiencing today.”
He commended security agencies and the various aid groups for their quick intervention in saving the lives of the injured victims and also commended the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, for suspending its strike to save lives, pointing out that more deaths would have been recorded without them.
Lalong said the state government had already released money to facilitate the treatment of the injured and prayed for the repose of the souls of the death.
He called on citizens of the state to remain calm, assuring them that his administration, in conjunction with security agencies, would do all within its powers to avoid a repeat of the dastardly act.
