As national security takes on local politics

However the radical response of the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, comprising a candid dissection and comprehensive appraisal of the new challenges as a launch pad for the acclaimed Soft Approach to Counter-Insurgency, significantly restored public morale and enthusiastic support. Of particular interest was the priority rightfully accorded the innovative approach to checking the social […]

However the radical response of the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, comprising a candid dissection and comprehensive appraisal of the new challenges as a launch pad for the acclaimed Soft Approach to Counter-Insurgency, significantly restored public morale and enthusiastic support. Of particular interest was the priority rightfully accorded the innovative approach to checking the social and economic factors that tend to create enabling environments for insurgency and terrorism to sprout and thrive which is a major thrust of the Soft Approach.
Expectedly, Nigerians have witnessed re-assuring reversals in the murderous rampages of the terrorists as the military engagements yield desired results even as the vulnerable segments of the society get carried along in the on-going subtle strategy of keeping idle minds away from the devil’s workshop.
Further evidence of the vitality and resourcefulness now powering functions of the office of the NSA came in the form of the recently concluded All Nigeria Political Parties and Political Stakeholders Summit held on June 12, 2014 in Abuja. The summit was not the jamboree usually associated with parley of politicians but a serious meeting of political leaders convened just as the political temperature was rising with 2015 election fever and inordinate ambition beclouded nationalistic passions on the political arena.
That the NSA was able to bring leaders of opposing political parties together in a cordial environment for sober reflection on the salient issues beyond the mundane issues of crass competition for “lucrative” political offices and settling scores, was no mean achievement in such circumstance.
The importance of the meeting and the level of endorsement it earned from the nation’s political leaders and other stakeholders was personified by the attendance list, which was topped by President Goodluck Jonathan who declared the summit open and included former heads of state, such as Generals Buhari and Abdulsalami Abubakar (who chaired the occasion), representatives of all the major political parties and stakeholders , INEC Chairman Professor Attahiru Jega, members of the diplomatic corps, international development partners, security, military and law enforcement agencies, academics and civil society community. The keynote address by Professor Jega was aptly focused on “Interparty Collaboration, National Stability and Democratic Consolidation”.
The renewed focus on the desirability of the conduct of politicians and parties being in compliance with the Code of Political Conduct was a timely and necessary reminder against the prevailing perception and practice of politics as an all-comers-anything-goes vocation for position-seeking politicians without the slightest regard for the national interest. In the run up to the 2015 elections, the necessary advisory for positive contribution of the political class towards ensuring peace and success could not have come at a better time and it is hoped that the politicians will remain as committed and patriotic back in their arena as they were during the Summit.
Hendrix wrote in from Kaduna