‘Insurgency thrives because security agents skip high profile personalities, vehicles’
Insurgency has become a big problem to the people and government of the country. And what has continued to amaze Nigerians is that in spite of security agents manning various check points, bombs have exploded in various cities including Abuja undetected. What is really the problem?Monitoring of internal movement is very, very important, but we […]
Insurgency has become a big problem to the people and government of the country. And what has continued to amaze Nigerians is that in spite of security agents manning various check points, bombs have exploded in various cities including Abuja undetected. What is really the problem?
Monitoring of internal movement is very, very important, but we appear to slack on this. How do we monitor our internal movement? The FG is trying with military men, DSS and the police are all doing their best, but there is still something lacking. From Borno state down to Abuja, we have a lot of roadblocks, heavily manned by the military and other security agents, but these demonic Boko Haram agents still move their arms and ammunitions. And we all know that they do not ferry these arms to cities by air or sea, but it is by road. So, how come they beat security to it and move? What I have discovered is that our security system or agents on duty still have unnecessary respect for high profile vehicles and personalities. Imagine that when they see somebody that is driving SUVs or all these classic cars, the security men at the checkpoints will salute the person and give him the nod to go without checking him.
And this applies to military men, politicians and businessmen. They will say bye, bye, safe journey sir. But when these small rickety cars come, they will stop them, search and collect N20 from them. I want to tell you clearly today that virtually at all the road blocks in this country, including those manned by the military, they collect bribe. Are the supervising authorities aware of this? And that is the first point of compromising proactive security. Why should they allow high profile vehicles pass unchecked, but concentrate on small rickety cars? Look at the big jeeps in the convoy of Boko Haram sect members each time they come for operation and you think they will use rickety cars to ferry arms and ammunitions to their destinations? They beat the imagination of our security men to the game and this area has to be looked into. If someone is using a vehicle, carrying a state government plate number, you need to stop and search the person and know who the occupants are. Know that vehicles belonging to state or FG are stolen from time to time, so what happens to these plate numbers? Criminals use them to beat security checks, as government marked cars.
The times we have found ourselves now do not require such laxity again. We have come to the point where even if the President comes to a checkpoint, they should stop him politely, with humility and search him, paying the highest respect to his office. All the back-up cars, escort vehicles, governors cars, ministers, the military chiefs, the police chiefs and all should be searched, because in security, you trust nobody. We are saying that people are sponsoring Boko Haram and anybody who has the might to sponsor the expensive operations of such a sect, anywhere in the world, must be high profile rich men or women, who do not drive small cars. Until, we bring down ourselves to begin to search every vehicle; we are nowhere near coming out of this mess.
I was in the USA, President Obama was travelling through the airport and at the airport check point, the officers manning it, asked him with due respect for his identity card. I don’t know whether they knew he was US President or not. He complied and showed them his identity card and thereafter, he shook hands with them for a job well done and proceeded. But in our country, a councilor is above the law, military or police checks, why? So, we know it is very difficult for the sect members to transport their arms and ammunitions by air and by the time we make the roads also unsuitable for such movements, they will have no arms to fight and we shall have peace.
A few months back, House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal came to a military checkpoint in Kaduna and the soldiers there searched him. But thereafter, many Nigerians condemned the action as disrespect for his office….
Nigerians who condemned the action of soldiers on Speaker Tambuwal are ignorant of security complexities. Many of us don’t have security awareness yet. At the risk of exaggeration, I can say 95 percent of Nigerians are still security illiterates, even now that we are battling this high profile threat to our security. If the President of America could submit himself to checks at the airport, who is a Speaker in this context? There is what is called principle of equality before the law and it is most applicable when it comes to the issue of security. I applauded those military men that searched the Speaker because it was not an embarrassment. It would amount to an embarrassment when security agents at check points meet such high profile personalities and they confront them in a very indecorous and uncivilized manner. But if they conduct checks on you with due respect, by first of all, according due respect to your office, you allow them do their work. Who are those that made the law?
It is the lawmakers and, is there any law they have enacted that says only poor people should be checked at security check points? No! And so what the soldiers did should not be limited to Speaker Tambuwal alone, but every high profile personality in the country, even the National Security Adviser, ministers or army chiefs and so on. This is for our collective peace. I was once travelling with my driver and the police flagged us to stop and my driver wanted to move, I restrained him immediately because the Police are doing their job. And even when we stop and they tell us to go, I always tell them no and insist they must check my car. That’s what all of us need to do, to implant in their psyche that they must always do their job with dedication. If we don’t assist them imbibe this habit, we shall one day become victims, because that’s the way they would ask those who have either kidnapped or abducted your wife or child to go.
What is shaking Nigeria now is the revelation by the Australian hostage negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis that former Borno governor, Ali Modu Sherrif and former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika are part of Boko Haram sponsors . What is your comment on this?
If Stephen Davis was contracted by the FG, they wanted him to do a thorough job and he now comes out to say this is one of the findings we have, there must be something to it, because they are not just negotiating for its sake. It is for us to know what to do to get to the end of this negative and satanic Boko Haram sect activities.
He is not God or the law, but since we contracted him, let us listen to him. Who is Ali Modu Sherriff? Does he still enjoy this their ‘impunity’ they call immunity? What about the former COAS? But based on what we are experiencing now, even if a serving governor with immunity is mentioned as a Boko Haram sponsor, I feel relevant authorities should wave off the immunity immediately to investigate and put the person on trial.
We have lost so many people in this country because of insurgency and it is affecting us seriously. No businessman now goes up North to do business again and each time I want to come to Abuja here, I do fasting and prayers for weeks before I come because of fear of the unknown and it is happening to so many people.
We have foreign investors in Nigeria who are scared now and our economy is already going down because of the mindless looting and by the time foreigners abandon us, Nigeria will collapse. And once the economy of a nation collapses, its political structure also collapses. Although, the FG has lately denied ever contracting Stephen Davis, the fact that Modu Sherriff and Ihejirika are mentioned, the FG should arrest and investigate them. It does not mean they are embarrassing or blackmailing them. Somebody has made a revelation on a burning national security matter, but I wonder…. I cry for this country when I see PDP and APC exchanging words over the security issue that is sinking Nigeria.
So, I think whoever is mentioned now, no matter how great you are, you should be put on trial. Failure to do this means we are setting a very negative precedent, because the inaction of government on the matter amounts to encouraging the irrelevant and satanic boys to carry on.