By Aminu Garko/Kano
Kano, Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, on Tuesday, granted full amnesty to 222 repentant influential youths handed over to him by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Usaini Gumel, urging them never to go back to their evil ways.
The Governor also offered schorlaship and skills acquisition opportunities to them.
Already, 50 out of the 222 repentant influential youths, have been trained and admitted as police constabularies.
Governor Yusuf spoke during the Hangout Event with the Repentant Thugs organized by Kano state Police Command, in collaboration with the AMG Foundation, held at Sani Abacha Indoor Sports Hall.
He tasked the influential youths to remain patriotic and make good use of the opportunities offered to them to live a crime-free life.
He vowed that government and security agencies would not hesitate to re-arrest and prosecute any of them found short of good character and patriotism.
According to him, “already, we have made plans for their empowerment through skills acquisition and education. Those who are willing to further their education will enjoy scholarship and sponsorship from the state government. Others who want to acquire skills or go into other legitimate businesses would also receive the full support of the state government.
“I most sincerely commend the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Usaini Gumel for making this feat possible. The Kano Police Command has organized the training and passing out parade for these repentant thugs and out of those that are trained there are 50 constabulary volunteers who were selected from the crime prone local government areas of Fagge, Gwale, Dala, Dala, Nassarawa, Ungogo and Kano Municipal. While 152 opted for skills acquisition in various trade to which the Kano State Government is committed to support them financially, while those who opted to go back to school to continue with their studies would be readmitted accordingly.
therefore, seize this opportunity to call on these repentant thugs to be honest to themselves and to society to keep the promises they made on defending the people and the allegiance they made to the People, Government, Security and indeed their parents.
“In the event that anyone fails to honour the allegiance and continue with his old habit the Government and Security agencies will not hesitate to punish and take action according to the laws of the Federation.
“It is our desire to ensure that Kano remains safe and secured to the comfort of residents, investors and visitors.”
In his remarks, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Usuani Gumel, urged motivational speakers and Ulamas to play their own role by delivering constant lectures to the repentant thugs.
“While taking cognizance that each time one repents and apologises, it is human to forgive, and that is why we all forgive and forget the past.
“On this note, we are inviting all stakeholders, especially from the state Council of Ulama, Hisbah, Kano Chamber of Commerce and other industrial and private Key Stakeholders to equally host them some other times, and to keep showing them a sense of belonging and never to leave them redundant or be allowed to be stigmatized by the public.
“This is the time they need the honest love of the society. Today we want you all to deliver to them some advice, Motivational Talks and look inward to ways of engaging them in some Life Changing Programs.
“This is part of the societal healing and integration processes into the mainstream of society. This is in consideration of their voluntary decision to turn away from the life of crime which is to our admiration and deserves applause as it takes great courage to forego past mistakes, abandon the path of violence, and embark on seeking for a legitimate and better way of life,” he added.
The Kano police boss further stated that, “in my part, I urge these influential youths to remain steadfast in their commitment to this positive change, knowing fully that the Kano State government, community stakeholders and Police will ever stand behind them in this journey of healing, transformation and peace-building,” he said.
The Emir of Kano, His Highness, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero commended the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gumel and Governor Yusuf for for the amnesty offered to the youths.
The Royal Father admonished the influential youths never to misuse the golden opportunity offered to them to become better human beings and patriotic citizens.
