 In the aftermath of the gruesome killing of more than 134 people by suspected Fulani Hertzman in Benway State, Governor Samuel Othom has maintained that indigents would not be provoked into taking up arms against anyone. Othom, who described the killings as heinous and cowardly reiterated his call on President Buhari to come to the aid of residents of the state. He also appealed to the communities and their leaders to continue to be law abiding, but also be vigilant at all times to be able to ward off the assailants. And we're now being joined by a public affairs analyst who is also a security expert, Austin Ega. Austin, good evening to you and thanks for joining us on Plus TV News. Good evening, my pleasure. That's right. So after the elections, we've seen another attacks coming up heavily in the northern part of the country, especially from Zamfara. We've seen from Kaduna, but this time around, especially now on the news tonight, we've seen attacks and kidnapping, banditry attacks kidnapping from Zamfara. What do you see with this? What's your view about this renewed attacks? I think from Zamfara, the demand of the bandit is known. They don't want military. And that is something that the government would have to decide on that. You cannot decide whether a people or a committee should have a heightened security or not. That is left for the government of the day to decide. So they have made their self-claim, each of their attacks, there's always something, there's always a remote cause. In this case, they don't want the military in Zamfara. That is not something we can just undermine or the government can undermine. Therefore, government to take such decisions. And in Benwe, we are sure that this is not far from political violence. So what I can say from Benwe state, because previously they've had things like that. There was a time the anti-grazing law was passed in the state by the governor, and they had a series of attack in that state. And now one of the attack, if we profile the attack in Benwe state, we see that it came from the southern district. So the eastern district and the northern district, there's no attack from what we compared to that the southern district where we had the former senate president. And so even the incoming, the governor-elect is from somewhere around, I think Bandike also does, is a place of birth. And that's around the east district. So we see this attack concentrated in the southern district. So from there, it is very clear that it has something to do with politics. No matter how we look at it, there's something to do with politics in that attack. And so we can't rule it out. Headsmen or whatever, they can come in any form to attack. So in Zamfara, it is also clear in Zamfara that we still have the same kind of people trying to build their capabilities. They are trying to rebuild their capabilities in Zamfara. And that's why they are demanding that the military should move away. And if that is done, they will definitely rebuild their capabilities and they grow up and increase the attack, the attack positions. And so it's left for the government of the day to decide. Right. You would agree with me that just before the elections, there was a bit of silence on attacks and a banditry. But immediately elections were concluded. These attacks were renewed. Is there something we don't know or something the Nigerians really need to know? Of course, before the election, there was a cash crunch issue. People didn't have enough cash to run their businesses. You must understand that these people in the underworld, they also need money to run their businesses. Everyone need money to fund these operations. And with the policy, the cashless policy from Central Bank, it really helped to cop some things at that moment. So there was no way, all sort of movement, we had a restricted or reduced activity at that moment. Everything was affected at that moment. And that is one point. Secondly, they all had candidates of their choices. Don't forget that these people carrying guns to fight a legitimate government, there is always an underlying cause. Definitely they are not having with certain issues in the country. And they believe the way they can express their own frustration is by carrying arms. And during the election time, I believe there was like every four years or every eight years, there's always hope for everyone to see a new government rising. Probably maybe those hopes were dashed. And of course, they went back to the creeks with their guns again. That's what I can take from that moment. Now the government has consistently told Nigerians that it is winning the war against banditry, against terrorism. Should we take the government's words? Should we take it? Or we just look at it as words on the papers? No, they are not words on the paper. There is evidence because the terror attacks in Nigeria, especially what we have in the Northeast, they were designated. It was designated as a deadly terrorist organization in the world. And from the rating of two to four to six, and now it's just the eighth position, Nigeria has just the eighth position of the most globally to the right nation in the world. And that shows that there's been a lot of achievement from the government side. Of course, don't forget that whatever they used to attack any system like the waypoint, it comes from the global world and they know how to keep track of their arms and ammunition. They are checking from there. And we don't know how many people they are resting over there because if an organization is designated as a terrorist organization by the global community, it means whatever they arrest any of the suspect or doing the funding, they can be tried anywhere. In fact, you will not have them. So I think from their own monitoring sites, they see that there have been reduced attack. They have been reduced attack. They have been a crippling of their structure. You can see from Zanfara, from what they are saying, they are trying to reveal their structure. So they have been a crippling of their structure and the military, they are doing enough. And that's what you're seeing. What you're seeing there is something that shows that they're just trying to keep up with the fighting. So the Nigerian government have done a lot. So going forward, because people are beginning to think that this is spelling danger, especially as the country drives towards May 29 the handover date for a new government to begin. People are seeing this as not as a bad sign towards that day. Yes. You see, one thing we should, we try, the government have tried their best to do the elections the way they're supposed to do. But what we must always do what is right. Because no normal human being will carry guns and begin to kill another or take abduct people or kidnap people. Security is built on this, on the circumstance of the economic realities. That is what causes insecurity. So at the time you see someone carrying guns, then there must be something they are fighting against. Some people can express themselves by going through a legal process. Some other, the best way they can do it by carrying arms. So ahead of May 29, it is really a dangerous point for us. From what we are seeing, there are series of attacks all over the whole North, even to the East. So I think the security of the nation should be heightened at this moment. I really believe with the nation, the Nigerian government to really look into it. It's not something they must take lightly. They really need to engage even the community heads to talk to people, so that people will be party heads. They know that they all know how to interact with these people. They should really get back to the Drembo and see that they talk to people. There should be communication so that people can really lay down their arms and really help us to really see what we can do at this moment. So that the Nigeria will not quickly break into total chaos. Because that is where we are heading. Because these people with guns, they take advantage of the instability, political instability to advance their course. But when there is stability, it's something that you don't see. So we pray that at this moment, the government should try their best. Thank you very much, Mr. Ega. Thank you for lending us your time on the news tonight. Thank you very much, Mr. Ega.