Says worst of security challenge over
Expert predicts more attacks
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
In an apparent reaction to last week’s report which named Nigeria as the second most terrorized country in the world just behind Iraq, the Federal Government on Monday declared that the worst of security challenge facing the country was over.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated this while addressing a press conference in Abuja.
He said bandits and terrorists would never “hold sway in our country”.
Mohammed noted that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has done a lot to drastically reduce the incidents of insecurity.
He admitted that even though there could still be some cases, the situation has improved than what it used to be in the past.
“As far as the daunting security challenges we face are concerned, we can tell you that the worst is over. Never again will terrorists and bandits and their cohorts hold sway in our country,” he said.
He added that “The security challenges we have face, as an administration, have been daunting — from terrorism to banditry to kidnapping to separatist violence to crude oil theft to armed robbery and sundry crimes.
“It’s undoubtedly the greatest challenge to the peace and security of our great nation since the civil war from 1967 to 1970. It is the kind of challenge that would have overwhelmed many nations.
“But thanks to the purposeful leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, we can say, I want to repeat, that the worst is over and peace and security are gradually returning to the land. Please don’t misunderstand or misrepresent this assertion.
“We may still witness isolated cases of security challenges here and there, but it will not be on the scale that we have witnessed in the past.”
The minister added that the media should always highlight the efforts of the security agencies in trying to keep the country safe.
However, a security expert, Akin Adeyi, has predicted that the revelation would have more devastating impacts on the nation’s security, international relations, economy and tourism attraction.
In an exclusive interview with The Point on Monday, Adeyi, a former Director in the Department of State Security, said Nigeria would witness more attacks following the rating because the terrorists and their sponsors would want to displace Iraq and clinch the first position.
He said the claim by the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba at the United Nations meeting that terrorism and insurgency would not affect the 2023 general elections should be taken with a pinch of salt, adding that the terrorists would launch more attacks in the country to retain the second position and even outplay the first holder.
Adeyi said countries that manufacture arms and ammunition would be more interested in patronising insurgent groups, the country and anyone who wants to patronise them while serious-minded nations would shelve ties with Nigeria forthwith.
“For the first time, I will agree with the organization that rated Nigeria as the second most terrorised country in the whole world. It’s a very correct assessment because there is nowhere in the world that can beat us to it when it comes to terrorism and this is an offence considered as the highest in the whole world weather spiritually or earthly law. It has already escalated in the country and you can see anyone lifting a finger to tackle it. It’s only in Nigeria where lives are being treated as nothing and somebody or some people in government are not doing anything about it. So, that rating must have been very correct. How Afghanistan beat us is still a surprise to me.”
“What do you expect the Inspector General of Police to say? That’s what he would say as somebody who is a major part of the problem because the whole thing boils down to how effective our police system is. Before it escalates to terrorism, it starts from small level of criminalities because insurgency and terrorism don’t start in just a day; from the top to the bottom like our president would say; it starts from the bottom to the top. It starts from stealing, stealing graduated into robbery, robbery developed to kidnapping, and all other kinds of criminalities. So, it’s like that and not that it starts from insurgency or banditry downward.
While blaming the Nigeria Police Force for worsening insecurity in the country, Adeyi said incessant jail breaks also contributed to the menace.
“All these people we call bandits started with stealing and other junior offences before they graduated into this senior level. So, we can’t discuss this without pointing fingers of failure to the police and the IGP. If you gather all these criminals, 90 percent of them pass through the police before they graduated to what they are now. They must have been guests of the Police at various times, they must have been badly investigated, got released or escaped. A good number of them pass through the judicial system with haphazard prosecution.
“And what about these jail breaks? Those are part of the things responsible for it. People that have been condemned and confined or restricted to a place because of what they have done before and that are not happy against the society that confines them or punished them with incarceration are now back into the society and are retaliating.
“When they are interested in anything, they will deploy anything needed to make sure that what they want happens. So, if the IG said that terrorism won’t affect 2023 elections, so be it, we know them.
If they don’t want an election to be held, they know how they do it, if they want it, they know how they do it.
“The rating has its disadvantages and will tell so much about the innocent public. It will affect our tourism patronage, it will affect international assistance, it will affect our international relationship, it will affect our naira value and no one wants to deal with a country that is rated in the whole world as the second most terrorised country. No serious country will have interest in us. The only countries that will have interest in us now are those countries that are into manufacturing and sales of firearms and ammunition. By that rating, those countries would have found a very good customer in Nigeria. They will be talking to all those that are behind this insurgency that we can supply them with weapons.
“Those who are in the third and fourth positions will be struggling to displace us so that they can clinch second position and we that are in the second position, those eccentric characters will be struggling to be higher than those at the first position because they will be faced with the challenges of wanting to be first and the challenges of not losing the second to those behind them. So, they will increase the levels of their criminal activities and insurgency. That’s what the Federal Government should know now if we still have one in place. They will increase their activities because they have to maintain that position. So, it’s like a race,” he noted.
