Issues
Tackling Nigeria’s Security Challenge
By most accounts, the current security challenges facing the
country make this period one of the most critical periods which Nigeria has
passed through as a sovereign nation.
Observers maintain that the period is somewhat akin to the
30-month old Nigerian civil war, adding, however, that the marked point of
departure is that the war was a conventional war, with known and identifiable
enemies.
In the recent armed struggle in the Niger Delta area, the
dramatis personae were known and this made it possible for the Federal
Government to introduce the Amnesty Programme for Niger Delta militants and
other programmes to boost the area’s development.
The leaders of the Niger Delta militants made known their
demands and entered into dialogue with the government and the discourse
resulted in the apparent peace in the region.
For Boko Haram insurgency, however, the situation is
entirely different. Though opinions are divided on whether to dialogue with
them or not, the main question is: “How does one dialogue with a masked group?’’
Moreover, analysts say that the country’s security agencies,
especially the army, have to devise innovative means of confronting the Boko
Haram challenge.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika,
alluded to this fact when he spoke at the 2012 Army Day Celebration.
The army chief stressed that the current security situation
necessitated a paradigm shift from the conventional warfare role of the army to
counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency roles, among others.
“The changes in our force structure, necessitated by spate
of security threats in the country, call for greater emphasis on functional and
mission-oriented training in order to improve Nigerian Army’s operational
efficiency,’’ he said.
Ihejirika also likened the current security situation in the
country to the Nigerian civil war, which threatened the existence of the
country.
“Apart from the civil war, at no other time in our nation’s
history has the army been tasked as in the current security situation in the
country,’’ he added.
He, nonetheless, gave the assurance that in spite of the
security challenges facing Nigeria, the country would not disintegrate.
Ihejirika noted that the army had always been in the
forefront of efforts to keep Nigeria as one country since independence in 1960.
“The army is still ready to pay the supreme sacrifice to
keep the country as one united entity.
“So, we should forget about any talk of Nigeria breaking up;
the army will never agree to that,’’ he stressed.
President Goodluck Jonathan also conceded that the country
had been facing serious security challenges, particularly in the last one year.
The president, who also spoke at the Army Day Celebration,
challenged the army high command to re-engineer and re-train the soldiers so as
to reposition them to effectively tackle the emerging security challenges
facing the nation.
He vowed that the Federal Government would use all resources at its disposal to provide adequate
security for the citizens.
Jonathan, who lauded the current interface existing among
the security agencies, stressed that a national anti-terrorism policy was now
in place.
All the same, opinion leaders and security experts hold
divergent opinions on the kind of approach that should be adopted to handle the
Boko Haram insurgency, the main security problem currently confronting the
nation.
Alhaji Hamma Misau, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of
Police, suggested that security agencies should make efforts to get across to
the sect’s leaders.
The retired police officer, however, advised security
operatives to desist from unduly harassing members of the public.
“If they treat the public in a civil manner, some of them
will be willing to feed the security operatives with important intelligence
data which can give a lead on how to reach the Boko Haram leaders for dialogue.
“Members of the Boko Haram sect are part of us; they live
among us. Therefore, it is important to reach them and dialogue with them so as
to know their grievances and address them,’’ he said.
Nevertheless, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, a former
Inspector-General of Police, blamed the security agencies for their inability
to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges facing the
country efficiently.
He blamed the current security challenges facing the country
on the inability of the security agencies to have accurate intelligence on
activities of militant groups.
“In the past, we have dealt with militant groups such as
Maitatsine in Kano and other parts of the country with the aid of efficient
intelligence,’’ he noted.
Coomassie claimed that the Boko Haram insurgency could be
addressed via “restricted dialogue’’ with the members of the sect, once the
government was able to ascertain its leadership.
However, Dr Lateef Adegbite, the Secretary-General, Nigerian
Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, said that the Federal Government should
establish an amnesty programme for members of the Boko Haram sect.
He said that the sect’s members should be pacified rather
than punished.
“The Federal Government should do everything possible to
curtail their excesses; while those of them who are ready to embrace peace
should be granted amnesty,’’ he stressed.
Adegbite, who attributed the current security challenges
facing the country to poverty, illiteracy and unemployment, stressed that these
factors were usually responsible for armed struggles in any society.
The current security situation in the country was also
exhaustively discussed at the 8th All Nigerian Editors Conference, recently
held in Uyo.
Various speakers and contributors at the conference, whose
theme was “The Nigerian Editor and National Security’’, underscored the need
for editors not to publish themes that could jeopardise national security.
Mr Gbenga Adefaye, the President of the Nigerian Guild of
Editors, bemoaned a situation in which the country’s media had become targets
of terrorist attacks.
He, however, appealed to media practitioners to look beyond
their traditional information gathering and dissemination roles.
“Today, the main topic of national discourse is security,
even President Goodluck Jonathan publicly admitted that the security concern
has been a major distraction in his efforts to fulfil his campaign promise of
job creation,’’ he said.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Labaran Maku, the Minister of
Information, urged the media to rise above religious and ethnic sentiments in
their reportage.
“As a reporter in government, I am encouraged when I read
you but at times, I am also depressed.
“Whenever there is a major communal crisis in the country;
that is when I test the efficacy, nationalism and judgments of the press.
“You can read and know from newspapers which one is for
which camp; you can decipher from the front page which paper has some sympathy
for certain religious or ethnic groups.”
The minister appealed to editors to put the interest of the
nation above any selfish considerations.
Senate President David Mark, who was the guest of honour,
also advised editors to play down issues which had the tendency of jeopardising
national stability.
He opined that if journalists were mindful of sensitive
national issues, their reportage would not constitute threats to national
security.
Mark appealed to editors to always refer to the Freedom of
Information Act whenever they were in doubt about certain issues so as to know
which one constituted a threat to national security.
Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, noted that the conference’s theme aptly reflected the editors’
concern over the security challenges facing the country.
The Speaker, who was represented by his deputy, Rep. Emeka
Ihedioha, advised editors not to place the media owners’ interests above
national security issues.
The National Security Adviser, Alhaji Sambo Dasuki, however,
called for a total redefinition of the role of the media to make them more
responsive to issues affecting national security, without necessarily
jeopardising their commercial interests.
He urged journalists to strike a balance between national
security issues and the need to make profits.
“While I understand that the purpose of the media is to sell
their publications, it is also important to strike a balance when it comes to
reporting national security concerns,’’ he said.
Dasuki appealed to the media to refrain from heightening the
level of fear and insecurity in the country through sensational reportage.
Mr Ita Ekpeyong, the Director-General, State Security
Service (SSS), appealed to journalists not to encourage acts of terrorism in
the country via their reportage.
In his paper entitled: “Architecture of Terror”, Ekpeyong noted that most terrorists needed publicity for their nefarious activities, stressing that the media should refrain from giving undue publicity to acts of terror so as to promote national security.
“Since terrorists need sympathy, media reportage should not
aim at encouraging their despicable acts. The press should not give prominence
to issues which ought to be buried.
“National interest must be taken into consideration whenever
the press is reporting terrorism,’’ he stressed.
In spite of the current security challenges facing Nigeria,
many observers believe that the country has a lot to celebrate as it marks its
52nd independence anniversary.
“For a country that survived a civil war as a fledgling
nation, no security challenge can be insurmountable,’’ some of them add.
They, however, urge all the citizens to assist the security
agencies in efforts to contain the activities of some anti-social groups which
are currently posing threats to the country’s security.
Obike Ukoh, is of
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Obike Ukoh
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
