Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu has said that the security situation in Nigeria will get worse because the Federal Government is not dealing with the issue at all.
In an interview on Channels Television, the lawmaker, who has been in the senate for 17 years described the community policing structure the Nigeria Police Force is coming up with as fraudulent and distraction.
Ekweremadu also described the South-West security outfit code-named ‘Operation Amotekun’ as a child of crisis, saying the region’s governors came together to provide solutions to security problems in the region because the federal policing system is not working.
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Explaining why he thinks the security situation of the country will get worse, the lawmaker said the government is living in denial and not taking the right steps to address the security problems.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu has been representing the people of Enugu-West at the National Assembly since 2003. (Vanguard)
He said, “I sympathise with Nigerians. I think we are living in denial. The security situation is so bad and the bad news is that it is going to get worse because we are not dealing with it at all.
“Nigeria lives as a federal state. We accepted before independence that is suitable for our circumstance is federalism. Since we accepted federalism, we need to look at others practising federalism.
“In those other places, the way they deal with security is to decentralise it. The idea of forming a federal system of government is that you have accepted that you have so many diversities. To respect those diversities, you have to come into a loose arrangement to do things in a way that is peculiar to the people.
“Community policing is a fraud. It is a total distraction. What they are telling us is that there is a problem between the community and the police itself and they need to address that lack of trust and confidence. That’s what community policing is all about.
“If you have a federal system, you have a complete architecture that can deal with situations in a complex manner.
“The Inspector-General came to us and told us they are going to get volunteers who will be giving police information, find out what their challenges are, why do they not trust the police, to build their confidence. That’s what they are saying but our people don’t seem to get it.
“Amotekun is a child of circumstance. Unfortunately, the federal police we have now is not working. That’s why they came together to say let us have a security outfit to deal with our problems.
“Amotekun is different from what the federal government is saying about community policing. They have personnel who are going to deal with issues unlike what the federal government is proposing.”
Ekweremadu has been representing the people of Enugu-West at the National Assembly since 2003.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK