Some mothers in Plateau State have appealed to Governor Simon Lalong to strengthen his assent to the anti-kidnapping, land grabbing and cultism law by supporting security agencies in the state.

The women said assenting to the bill without adequate funding of security operations would render efforts in tackling insecurity in the state fruitless.

Recall that Lalong had a few days ago signed into law a bill which prescribed the death sentence for kidnap convicts and a minimum of 7 years jail term for cultists.

However, the Forum of Plateau Mothers (FOPLAM) in a statement on Monday, asked Lalong to complement efforts of the federal government by supporting operatives with tools to crush the criminals, saying that security agencies in the state appear not to have sufficient modern security equipment to police forest areas around the state

“Signing into law the state’s anti-kidnapping, anti-land grabbing, anti-cultism and other related matters bills passed by the Plateau State House is a sure way to start in dealing with the menace of kidnapping in Plateau State.”

“The death sentence for kidnapping is a welcome step. However, we appeal to the governor to massively scale up his support for security agencies to enable them defeat these monsters.

“Our findings have regrettably shown that our security agencies do not have sufficient vehicles, telecommunications, gadgets close circuit cameras to police the forest, drones and even finances to buy fuel to respond to distress calls.”

“We, therefore, appeal to the father of state and peace lover, Governor Lalong to provide logistics to our security agencies,” it reiterated.

The Chairperson of the forum, Barr Rebecca Pam said the call was dear to the association because as mothers they had suffered trauma occasioned by the loss of lives, maiming and raping of women in their communities.

“Statistically, more than 130 women are killed and about 60 to 70 raped by these criminals annually in Riyom and Barkin Ladi local governments. But surprisingly, this year, we noticed a drastic decline. This, we must commend Operation Safe Haven for the good work.

“As an association, we have been at the forefront of criticizing the security agencies whenever they go wrong, hence we must also commend them when they perform well.

“We appeal to them to sustain the tempo and professionalism they are using to achieve these uncommon results.

“The only security outfit in the state that can effectively give these criminals a hot chase is Operation Safe Haven. However, OPSH cannot be everywhere at the same time hence there is an urgent need to equip other security agencies to complement efforts in areas their presence is lacking.”

DailyPost