Emeka Ibemere
Honourable Emeka Idumogu, a member of the Lagos State House
of Assembly and also a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, member has called for
state police as an only way out of insecurity in Nigeria, describing the
growing insecurity in the country as a threat to national peace and unity.
Following the level of insecurity growing in Nigeria with
particular reference to the Fulani herdsmen bandit operations in south east and
north central, in some weeks now, speaker told our correspondent in an
interview over the weekend, that he disagrees with the purported grazing bill said
to have been proposed by the federal government, and said it must be a rumour.
On the insecurity situations in the south east zone,
Honourable Idumogu said it was quite unfortunate that it happened in Enugu and
that the activities of the Fulani herdsmen to him, is a bad signal to the unity
and co-existence of the nation-state called Nigeria.
According to him, the actions of the cattle rearers also
bring in the question of state police. “I listened vividly the excuses of the
Enugu Commissioner of police and that of the state governor saying that they
are preview to the attack and that he made efforts to contact the security
agencies and the police commands in Enugu state; and the worst was that they
had a meeting on it but because the governor doesn’t have control of the police
and other security agencies, probably its my own view, they didn’t take it
seriously,” he queried.
“How can a governor want a problem solved and the
commissioner of police will not corporate with him, its not good enough. The
issue of state policing is necessary. The idea of saying that it’s going to be
abused is not sound because I believe that in the present day Nigeria, we have
overcome such argument. I will go for state police because it’s the key to
solving insecurity in the states.”
Idumogu said he is of optimistic that with the state
policing, it will help solve the insecurity in the states adding that when you
rely on the Inspector General of police who is in Abuja, to solve a problem in
Enugu, a lot of damages must have gone.
“And by the time you send messages and sometimes the message
will not get to him or may be the governor start running to the presidency in a
small case he will quietly handle in his domain, its not healthy and safe for
quick response to insecurity.
“I don’t think the 1999 constitution as amended was not
faulty. There are lots of sections and portions there that deserved to be
changed and removed, especially in the exclusive list and in the concurrent
list; these are the obstacle issues we have to look at. Coming back to the
Fulani herdsmen, my take is that the governors in the south east and south-
south have to work together. As it happened in Enugu, you may not know their
next target. So, they must come together and come up with their own security
arrangement in tackling the menace, because prevention is better than cure.”
The house member also called for state policing as possible
options of quelling the rampaging Fulani terrorist gang.
“Every state
should have its police under the control of the governor of that state. Let
police be ‘deregulated’ just like we are in the deregulation regime, while the
army be for the centre and take responsibility of national territory waters and
boundaries.” He said. “I mean the armed forces should be exclusively for
federal government but police should be run by the state under the control of
the chief executive governor of each state because it’s in the state that all
these terrors take place,” according to him, its not when an issue takes place
in a state, the governor would start calling for the IGP,or the President and
so on, and said its not healthy to checkmate insecurity in the country, adding
that when each state is secured, the entire country is save.
“And sometimes when a
governor calls them depending on their relationship with the governor the may
ignore him because they don’t take others from him. It’s not proper as a
governor of a state; not to have control over the police.” He stated. On the Niger-Delta
Avengers, he said the gang seems to be another new birth of insecurity and
their operation is taking a tool on the nation’s resources,
“I think it’s the issue of sectionalism, ethnic consciousness
and resource control agitation that gave birth to the recent NDA, perhaps,
today former president Goodluck Jonathan is no longer in power and President
Buhari is president and apart from that the present president stopped the
amnesty deal which the late Umaru Musa 'Yar'aduwa had with the Niger-Delta militant
that forced them to drop their arms, and considering the allowances, training
on skill acquisition and other benefits that Buhari stopped, I’m not saying
they should be pampered but there is a saying that the chicken that lays the
golden egg should be given attention like that.”
Honourable Idumogu said whether other Nigerians like it or
not, that the crude oil that the nation is enjoying today comes from the
Niger-Delta, and that the zone needs some attention.
“And remember, the
issue of amnesty wasn’t the brain child of Jonathan, it was the late Umaru Musa
'Yar'aduwa, and that is to tell you after looking at the whole scenario, all he
wanted was peace of the Niger delta, peace of Nigeria, peace of his government,
and the peace of the Nigerians and he went for the amnesty deal and it worked
for him and his government.”
“So, the issue now is that the present government is not
taking them seriously instead they are talking tough, and it’s not good enough
and may not produce result. I condemned the actions of the NDA, for me its
sabotage and its bad but because of Nigerian interest there, the government
should go for negotiation because if you declare war there, a lot of things
will be destroyed and the oil production we are talking about will be affected.
They know the terrain more than the Nigerian soldiers, so discuss with them
rather than going into war with them. Now the Nigerian crude oil production has
recorded the lowest since 1976, according to some reports, it’s not good.”
According to the honourable member, the insecurity
threatening the region and the implication on the economy of the country is
something that federal government should reconsider and come up with peaceful
resolution.
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