Stakeholders in Nigerian politics, including state assembly members, politicians and legal luminaries have alleged that President Mohammadu Buhari has failed to win the war against insurgency and other criminal activities in Nigeria.
Speaking with reporters in Calabar, Cross River State capital, the stake holders lamented that the level of killing, kidnapping, armed robbery, militancy, terrorism, communal clashes and destruction of properties are rather on the increase.
They insist that President Buhari and All Progressive Congress (APC) have so far not won the battle against insurgency and other related crimes in the country. “We have not made any meaningful progress, we are hearing stories, killing is at its best now, cultism, militancy, kidnapping, terrorism, communal clash, destruction of properties are rampant” the people lamented.
A member of the Cross River State House of Assembly, who represents Bakassi State constituency, Hon (Dr) Ekpo Ekpo Bassey said, “Hardly a day goes by without reported cases of killing of innocent people in Nigeria and it is worse in the North East part of the country
“That problem had been there for such a long time, it appears there is no government in the country. But, we know that the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria in Section 14 sub-section 2b provides that security and welfare of the people shall be the primary responsibilities of government, be it federal, state and local government.
“We do not expect civilians to be the ones fighting insurgency or any forms of criminality, because they are not trained and armed for such purpose. But we have trained personnel whose primary responsibility is to make sure that they provide security for Nigerians but it appears that they have failed in their responsibility so if a government cannot provide security, it cannot provide welfare, then what’s the value of having such a government in place.
“I think we have to go back to the drawing board, if we are talking about restructuring, if that would solve our problem let us adopt that approach. We cannot be watching Nigerians being killed on a daily basis and nobody cares, we are not safe, you cannot even sleep with your two eyes closed, a lot of people are leaving the country, even in Cross River State.
“Many Doctors are leaving the state because of poor salaries and lack of security, some of us have no options than to stay and that is why we are staying behind, is this how we are going to continue. For how long are we going to continue like this? he asked
“Security is key to every meaningful development, investors cannot even dare it, they wouldn’t come to an insecure environment, so what is going to happen to the economy of the country in a situation like this? he further asked
Hon Ekpo Bassey pointed out that it is time government arose to take very decisive action that can end the killings in the country, “I believe if the government has a political will and are concerned about the welfare of the people and promise to defend the provisions of the constitution, then there will be an end to this insecurity, insurgency.
“But when people are focusing on how much they can take away from the country, how much money they can cart into their private pocket or bank account, because they have mismanaged the resources of the country, so they are afraid of poverty, that is why one person will have billions of naira in his bank account,
“I am tempted to support some of the actions of the International community on Nigeria because we are not interested in the future of the country, how can government fold its arms and watch people being killed in their 100 days in and days out, so what is the value of government, what is the essence of government, I am really worried” he stated.
On the issue of sacking the service chiefs, Hon Bassey said it was not a matter of changing them but a matter of political will, it is to get them to be on their toes to do what they are supposed to do because they have experience, “I believe that they have professionalism, they have what it takes to address these issues of insecurity.
“But, it has to do with the persons, let government call them to order and give them specific mandates and give them what they need to achieve the mandates, the mandates should be to bring to an end the killing of Nigerians in the North East, militancy in the South South and all sort of criminality that are in the middle belt, they must be given the mandate and given a timeline to make them know the consequences of not meeting the mandate,
“Government should provide more incentive to security agencies because some of these criminalities are as a result of poverty, lack of incentive to those fighting insurgency, militancy, kidnapping, armed struggle and other forms of robbery that is going on in the country“ he said
On the issue of the slain Aso rock director, a spokesman of the APC in Cross River State Hon Cletus Obun told DAILY POST on phone, that the Police were already on the matter and so Nigerians must wait for the report. He however, explained that it has been established that the woman did not die of natural causes as such investigations have commenced and some people are already in custody as suspects.
Speaking on videos by Boko Haram leader, Shakau, Hon Obun said “I don’t think it is an assault on Nigeria, it is not the first time we saw that kind of video, other head of terrorist organisations have put out such videos, we have seen videos from bandits, such videos are normal and they are regular features in our world today but our security personnel must be up and doing and be on top of such a situation and get rid of such persons.
“However, our military have to get rid of them especially with the recent acquisition of new military hardware by the air force and the army; in the next few weeks and months, we are not going to hear much about Shekau. We are recording much improvement, what we have now is hit and run whereas they were killing in many local government areas including Borno state but today, it is no longer so
On insurgency attacks, Obun noted that the military is now ready to phase out the insurgents with more sophisticated, technology driven equipment.
The military is doing enough in the acquisition of sufficient arms and equipment to combat insurgency in the north east and Borno is the epicentre of that war fare, ‘we are not doing badly in controlling and combating banditory’. he maintains
”We need more soldiers. Nobody has ever won the war against insurgency across the world, other countries are still burning because of insurgency, the whole world is fighting insurgency and so the war on insurgency cannot be won”.
He however warned Nigerians not to lump kidnapping, armed robbery and other forms of crime to insurgency, insurgency must be defined clearly, ‘I don’t think what is happening in Lagos and other places amount to insurgency’.He insisted.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK