While the Federal Government claimed that bandits had been degraded, communities in Kaduna, Zamfara and Edo states were attacked which resulted in the loss of lives and the abduction of many.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, had stated in an interview with state House correspondents after a security meeting presided over by the President Muhammadu Buhari that the bandits had been degraded and were engaging in a “hit-and-run kind of tactics.”

He also said there was no truth in the report that policemen had abandoned the Abuja-Kaduna Road.

While insisting that policemen and soldiers were embarking on joint patrols of the road, the minister, however, agreed that efforts must be intensified to make it safe for travellers.

Dingyadi also said he reported to the council that policemen had returned to their duty posts after their withdrawal in the wake of the violence that followed the #EndSARS protests.

He, however, admitted that policemen could not be everywhere at the same time.

Vice-President Yemi Osinabjo, relevant ministers and heads of the nation’s security agencies attended the meeting with Buhari.

On banditry, Dingyadi said, “These bandits have already been degraded. So, there is no way they can resuscitate themselves and take over.

“I think they have already been degraded; what they are doing is just a hit-and-run kind of tactics.

“So, we don’t see any sign of them coming to take over or overpower. I think they have been well degraded and they are just trying to show their presence in a very cowardice manner.”

On the concerns that the police had abandoned the Abuja-Kaduna Road and plans to ensure that peace returned to the route, the minister stated, “Once a small thing happens in a particular place like this, we begin to talk about lack of security in that area.

“That place is being monitored 24 hours. There are police and the army, who are on a kind of joint patrol on a 24-hour basis.

“Whenever this kind of thing happens, we pursue them like what happened just two days ago, those people were rescued. So, the police and security personnel will continue to monitor this road and all other places to ensure that peace is, to a very large extent, maintained in the area.”

A member of a civil society organisation, the Centre for Liberty, Ralph Adebayo, said the pervasive insecurity in the country calls to question the essence of the Buhari regime.

The activist noted that hundreds of Nigerians were being abducted daily, stressing that the Federal Government under Buhari “has failed in its mandate of securing lives and property.”

Adebayo stated, “The disingenuous attitude of the Nigerian government is beginning to hurt its structures and people. What happened to the 12 ASPs is a reminder of what happens to the average Nigerian daily and the sad part is that the majority of the victims are unknown.

“That is why we keep saying that the government of Major General Muhammadu Buhari has failed. It not only failed to deliver on its mandate, but it has also failed to ameliorate the sufferings of the Nigerian people.

“Insecurity is worsening; inflation is rising; the economy is in a shambles; students are not in school and nothing is working. And so, you begin to question the essence of the Buhari regime, which cannot make the lives of the people better.”

The Convener, Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, said the abduction of the senior police officers had put a lie to claims by the government that it had degraded the criminals.

He knocked the government for launching military action against peaceful protesters, while negotiating with bandits and terrorists.

Adeyanju stated, “It shows the hypocrisy, the cluelessness and the incompetence of this government that we have been talking about; they lie effortlessly. This is a government that has been negotiating with bandits in Katsina, Zamfara and terrorists in the North-East, but it is criminalising protests and attempting to regulate the social media.

“You can see how bandits and terrorists have overrun the country. It is regrettable and most unfortunate that the commander-in-chief is quick to deploy the military against peaceful protesters, but uses perfumes on bandits.”