The Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari on Friday alerted the nation to the intrinsically flawed national security architecture when he officially announced his resignation as the Chief Security Officer of his state.
Coming from the leading cheer-leader of the Failed APC Federal Government, this is the worst form of indictment. A declaration that the national security architecture has failed and quite woefully.
Yari, expressed sadness over the structure of the nation security architecture, which makes governors helpless in the face of mounting security infractions.
The truth is that nobody knows the numbers of persons who have lost their lives in the unending bandit invasions of Zamfara and adjoining states. This week alone, official figures claim that 30persons were killed in clashes between herdsmen, vigilante groups and cattle rustlers .
This sad story of killings has become the tragedy of our time. All Geo-Political Zones are neck deep in one form of security crisis or the other. Every week, at least one hundred innocent Nigerians are murdered in cold blood. The Failed APC Federal Government’s only response is to offer excuses. They seem to have no solutions.
It has gone so bad that armed robbers and kidnappers are considered lesser criminals. Nobody talks about them.
Governor Wike predicted this tragedy early enough and asked for a proactive approach to address security challenges. Rather than act, the APC Federal Government politicised security.
It is surprising that Abdulaziz Yari ever thought that he was the Chief Security Officer of Zamfara State. Aside that he is an APC Governor, who has the ear of the President, was he ever in control of any security outfit? Did they ever take directive from him? The answer is no.
Addressing the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 9 at the Institute of Security Service (ISS), Abuja on August 24, 2016 Governor Wike said State Governors should no longer be addressed as Chief Security Officers, but mere Chief Logistic Officers who only provide logistics for Federal Security agencies.
Despite getting majority of their logistical support from the states, the security agencies are used by the APC Federal Government as agents of insecurity and destabilization.
The case of Rivers State is quite known. Commissioners of Police and other security heads are transferred with reckless abandon, while compromised senior officers like the head of SARs are used to destroy the security architecture.
Rivers State has continued to survive because of the proactive techniques adopted by Governor Wike. Other states are not that lucky, hence the wallow in Federal Government induced insecurity.
Fundamentally, the unitary command structure of the country’s security architecture is responsible for the frightening insecurity across the country.
The present command structure was bad even during the previous administrations. But, it was worsened by the failed APC Federal Government’s total politicization of security in the country.
This administration sees the security architecture as a weapon to bring state governments to their knees. Unfortunately, nobody is spared in their desperation, which is premised on re-election, even at the expense of human lives.
There is an immediate need for the APC Federal Government to look beyond re-election and stop the unfortunate carnage across the country . This can be done by urgent reforms for short term gains.
State Governors by Presidential Order should have limited control of security operations with their states, since they know the terrain better than heads of security agencies. This short term approach should be followed by profound legislations from the National Assembly with the inputs of all the 36 states.
Since State Police is contentious, State Governors should be involved in the direct management of existing Federal Security outfits.
The APC Federal Government must act differently. The present model is destroying the country. An all-inclusive method, devoid of base politics must be deployed to make the country safe again.
Finally as with the case of Rivers, Nasarawa, Lagos, Cross River and Anambra States, the states should be encouraged to establish quasi-security organisations to assist federal security agencies. We cannot continue to rely on ill-equipped security agencies that lack the requisite manpower to build safe communities.
Written by Simeon Nwakaudu, the spokesman for Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
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