We do not support war. It disrupts peace, destabilises communities and derails development.
However, when the war is against people and activities that equally have negative repercussions on peace and development, we unleash our ‘weapon’, and join in.
It is against this backdrop that we throw our weight behind the ‘war’ that has been waged against criminals and communal violence in the Northern Region.
We are referring to the all-out war on all perches of criminal elements in the region declared by Mr Salifu Saeed, the Northern Regional Minister and chairman of the Regional Security Council (RESEC), this week.
The ongoing exercise involves the full deployment of security agencies including combined teams of police and military to keep 24-hour surveillance on hot spots in the region.
These measures are in reaction to increasing incidences of vehicle snatching and communal disagreements that quickly become violent and threaten the security in the region.
More so, residents have been cautioned against communal violence and told to resort to the rule of law or face the wrath of the collective forces of the security agencies.
That is not all. A reward scheme has been instituted for informants who would provide accurate and reliable information that would lead to the apprehension of criminals in the region.
The REGSEC is envisaging that peace, law and order, would be restored.
We hope that would happen soon because criminal activities and violence are not good for any country’s development.
Many lives and property have been lost to violence and funds that could have been used for developmental projects have been spent on rebuilding destroyed structures.
Economically, businesses which feel unsafe there would pack or abort plans of opening outlets in the area. This would deny people job opportunities.
Teachers, medical practitioners and other key public servants would not refuse posting to those places to offer critical service. There are many repercussions of violence and criminalities.
This is not the situation we want in the Northern Region. We therefore support the REGSEC to go all out and stem these two cankers from the region and bring perpetrators to book.
We expect that the criminals are prosecuted and jailed to serve as deterrent to others.
If the REGSEC and the security agencies are serious about clamping down on violence and criminalities, they should not shield anyone in the name of politics.
Information from members of the public is an important weapon in this ‘war’, and so we urge residents to report activities of criminals to the security agencies for rapid response.
We want to see a region where all law-abiding citizens go about their daily schedules without fear; region investors would find conducive and resonates peace.
The battle lines have been drawn and we must all fight with all our might to protect the peace we are enjoying.
