PDP tackles Sokoto govt on desertification Police decry high crime rate in Kogi Central

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Sokoto State yesterday accused the state government of fuelling desert encroachment by arbitrary felling of trees planted over 30 years ago in the state.

“At a time the Sahara Desert is fast encroaching, the Magatakarda administration has chosen to destroy the trees planted along major roads and nurtured to growth over 30 years ago,” the PDP chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Milgoma, said.

He said: “This is coming on the heels of the flag off of the Green Wall project in the desert-prone states which include Sokoto State by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.”

He condemned the allocation of plots around the perimeter wall of the Usman Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto and Garba Duba road, describing the action as harmful to the environment as well as security of lives in the hospital.

Milgoma said the allocation of plots of land along Kaduna road, Western bypass and Garba Duba road was capable of destroying the trees that served as wind breaks and protected Sokoto from the impacts of weather and climate changes. The police have decried the rate of crimes in Kogi Central, urging traditional rulers in the state to support their fight against crime.

The Commissioner of Police, Paul Okafor during a stakeholders’ meeting in Okene at the weekend, urged the traditional leaders to fine-tune ways of fighting crime in their localities.

He said the meeting was necessary because of series of crimes in Okene and its environs. He said assessment of crimes in the state showed that about 70 to 80 percent of serious crime committed in the entire state happened in Kogi Central.

“The meeting was to find solution to this problem. We want people to go about their normal life and endeavours without fear of being killed. It is an established fact that security is the responsibility of all and no society can be comfortable without effective policing and law enforcement to guarantee the maintenance of law and order,” Okafor said.

Responding, the Ohi of Okene, Alhaji Yakubu Anivasa assured the commissioner of their support, urging him to partner with them for effective policing.