Festus Keyamo: I Can Drive From Abuja To Kaduna Without Escorts. I Can Do It!

The Minister of State for Labour, Mr Festus Keyamo, during an interview on Channels TV, says he can drive from Abuja to Kaduna without security escorts.

On the interview session on live TV, he was quizzed on if he could drive despite the security challenges, the minister of state for labour and employment, who is also the spokesperson of the presidential campaign of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) said: 

“Some people do, I can do it. I can do it. I saw headlines last week saying that I said insecurity has been brought to an all-time low by Buhari. I didn’t say so. It’s still the season of wrong headlines. I said what we met on the ground, Boko Haram in the north-east. I was specific and so they quoted me generally to say Boko Haram and insecurity throughout the whole country. I only said Boko Haram in the north-east, it has not been totally wiped out, but we have reduced this significantly.

“All the roads that lead to Chibok and Damboa in Borno, they are now passable. The issue of the farmer-herder crisis came to a height between 2017 and 2020. The World Terrorism Index said so. Not me. The body also said the attacks reduced so much in 2021. And further reduced again now in 2022. So, it’s a downward spiral in terms of the farmer-herder crisis.

“In terms of banditry and kidnapping, they are on the rise in the north-west and some parts of the middlebelt. I have admitted that."

The 155km Abuja-Kaduna highway has had a long history of insecurity, ranging from banditry, with incidents of extortion, kidnapping, robbery, and murder.