Changing Security Chiefs, Not Solution To Insecurity
If there is any lesson to learn from the fight against insecurity during the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari it is the fact that the intractable and pervasive nature of the breakdown of law and order during the eight-year period was a consequence of the lack of political will to fight that war to a logical conclusion. It proved that the problem was not entirely that of the service chiefs or IGPs, but that of failure of the political class to do what is necessary to secure the land.
An encounter with a political office holder in Borno, three years ago, only further confirmed this. The politician revealed that whereas President Buhari was ever-willing to provide logistics and resources to support the fight, he was, however, not painstaking or diligent enough to follow up to ensure that the funds were used for what they were meant for.
So, this confirms that the security chiefs can only do as much as the president drives them to do and to what extent he wants them to go. In the fight against insecurity, a presidency that is determined to achieve success must be prepared to go to any length to achieve that success, even if it requires seeking international support.
In a similar encounter with a governor some years back I had asked him what was the magic he used to end the insecurity in his state prior to his arrival as governor. He simply retorted that any crisis that lasts for more than two weeks the chief executive must be involved. How confounding!
The inevitable question to be asked is how far is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu prepared to go to hunt those who are the promoters of these killers? In hunting these killers, is the president prepared to bring to book those behind them?
Tinubu had last Monday retired the service chiefs appointed by his predecessor. Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao; Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, and Comptroller of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), among others.
He immediately not only replaced the service chiefs but also made other key appointments including: Â Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser; Maj. Gen. C.G Musa, Chief of Defence Staff; Maj. T. A. Lagbaja, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral E. A. Ogalla, Chief of Naval Staff; AVM. H.B. Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff and DIG Kayode Egbetokun, Acting Inspector-General of Police, among others.
Again, President Tinubu, consistent with his performance since assuming office, was spot on as he ensured that the controversies that often trailed the Buhari’s one-sided appointments, were completely taken care of. The argument that Buhari’s appointments were made with considerations for only the best beggars belief, as it seemed to suggest that only one part of the country can boast of such competences.
By ensuring that these appointments reflected the diversity of the nation, Tinubu has not only doused tension across the country, but also gained for himself the opportunity to concentrate on other things rather than wasting precious time rationalising what is clearly indefensible.
In appointing these new security bigwigs, Tinubu must make sure that if they fail to perform with all the necessary support, they must be shown the door.
Again, that is an area where Buhari fell short, because even where there were clear cases of failure to deliver, those officers were tolerated and only removed after intense pressure from the people. A simple case was that of the then IGP Buhari ordered to relocate to Benue following the incessant killings in the state. Not only did the IGP not obey the order, the President was also ignorant of the fact that the IGP did not carry out his directive.
Two months after he had directed Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris (IGP) to relocate to Benue State and stop killings by herdsmen, President Muhammadu Buhari discovered to his chagrin that his order was not carried out.
The revelation that Idris spent just a day in Benue and left for Nasarawa State was never lost on the public, reinforcing insinuations that a cabal has been shielding the president from reality.
A surprised President Buhari had retorted; “It is only now that I am hearing this. But I know that I sent him here.”
A former military governor, General Atom Kpera (rtd.), had told the president: “You swiftly directed the IGP to Benue. But the IGP did not do the work you sent him. He stayed for less than 24 hours in Benue and relocated to Nasarawa, and then said what he saw was a mere communal clash. Few days later, his men were killed too.”Â
The president was in the capital city, as part of a string of visits to states affected by security crises, especially attacks on farmers by herdsmen.
President Tinubu should know that the major problem that led to Buhari’s failure was his insistence on making appointments based on ethnic and religious considerations. In also waging the war against insurgency and ethnic and religious militancy, he was less keen in hunting down the killers from the north as he did in the south, particularly the South East.
The result being that whereas Sunday Adeyemo (aka Igboho) and Nnamdi Kanu are detained till this day, not one killer herdsman or Boko Haram murderer is in jail. Can that be attributed to a mere coincidence?
Have you ever wondered like me, how bandits can successfully rustle hundreds of cattle after killing in equal measure innocent and hapless people without a trace? Have you also wondered how in the middle of a war against insurgency, the government is ‘successfully’ carrying out spurious rehabilitation programmes for murderers? Are you also as flustered as myself, why does the government keep referring to the attacks by herdsmen on farmers as farmers-herders clash? Can any sane person with a cutlass or hoe clash with a herder wielding an AK-47?
Therefore, appointing new service chiefs, is not the solution to the problem but the willingness to prosecute this war dispassionately. If after four years this situation remains, no matter what Tinubu may have achieved economically, he will still be considered a failure because the basic and most fundamental duty of any government is to secure the people as well as their properties. Anything outside this is unacceptable.
