Senator Sunday Karimi, representing Kogi West, has praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for ordering a major security deployment to Kwara State following a fresh bandit attack in Eruku, a border community between Kwara and Kogi.
The Monday night assault on worshippers in Eruku, which left two people dead, compelled the President to postpone his planned trip to the G20 meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as an AU–EU Summit in Luanda, Angola. The delay, the Presidency said, would allow him receive additional security briefings on both the Kwara incident and the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi State.
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Karimi commended Tinubu for prioritising national security, saying the decision to put off his international engagements underscored the seriousness of the situation.
In a statement on Wednesday, the senator urged Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo to intensify joint efforts to safeguard residents along the shared border.
He said the attack highlighted the urgent need to strengthen local government administration, noting that councils remain closest to the grassroots.
“Governors have been foot-dragging on allowing councils enjoy full autonomy for reasons best known to them,” Karimi said. “If properly empowered, local governments should be able to protect their communities.”
He argued that granting councils full access to their allocations would help curb banditry, as chairmen could invest part of the funds in equipping local vigilante groups rather than seeing the money “filtered away through phony contracts that are never executed.”
Karimi also urged Nigerians to support the President’s efforts to restore security and stability, claiming that “enemies of progress” were exploiting banditry in an attempt to undermine public confidence in Tinubu’s administration.
