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PAGE 24 – SUNDAY VANGUARD, OCTOBER 13, 2019<br />
What is the way forward on<br />
insecurity?<br />
If we want proper security in this<br />
country, we have to change the<br />
structure of the police. We are not<br />
going back to local authority police but<br />
we now have a state structure. The fear<br />
people have of state police is maybe<br />
they will be misused by governors. We<br />
can take care of that legally. The<br />
Commissioner of Police has to be<br />
appointed by the state Assembly; if he<br />
misbehaves and he is to be<br />
disciplined, it is the Assembly that will<br />
investigate and, if he is found guilty,<br />
punished. But the governor cannot say<br />
‘I sack you’. He has to be protected.<br />
And the governor cannot ask him to<br />
do something outside the law. Once<br />
that is done, he has the responsibility<br />
of working with the people. And<br />
recruitment of the police should be<br />
within the state because of language<br />
barrier, ethnicity, knowledge of the<br />
society and the terrain, so that<br />
whenever anything happens, they can<br />
easily detect it. In the recruitment of<br />
the local authority police then, it was<br />
important that they know you, your<br />
parents and everything about your<br />
background before you are recruited<br />
into the police. And they were well<br />
trained and well paid to enable them<br />
do their work effectively. And the<br />
system had plain clothes operatives<br />
that mingled with the people to gather<br />
information. So, we can have the<br />
Nigeria Police at the top, like what is<br />
happening in England now where<br />
they have the council police like our<br />
own local authorities because we<br />
borrowed that from them and then the<br />
Met Police which operate across the<br />
country. If there is anything<br />
happening in a state, Met Police can<br />
join the people on the ground to<br />
investigate.<br />
Under state police, you cannot take<br />
a man from Katsina and post him to<br />
Akwa Ibom and expect him to work<br />
perfectly; he doesn’t know the culture,<br />
the people’s language, so it will be<br />
difficult for him to operate. We have<br />
to implement state police now to<br />
complement the Nigeria<br />
Police to curb insecurity.<br />
For example, the<br />
kidnapping that is<br />
rampant now, the locals<br />
know who are the<br />
perpetrators but because<br />
of fear, even if they go to<br />
the police and report, it<br />
can boomerang on them;<br />
so they have to keep<br />
quiet. But if it were to be<br />
under state police, they<br />
know how to go about it.<br />
How do we achieve<br />
this?<br />
It is a question of<br />
amending our<br />
Constitution. What is the<br />
use of the Constitution if<br />
it does not serve the<br />
interest of the people? In<br />
essence, we change it to<br />
suit our time and the<br />
situation we find<br />
ourselves.<br />
I saw a letter<br />
written by one<br />
Adeyinka<br />
Adebayo,<br />
presumably the<br />
late general, to<br />
Asiwaju Bola<br />
Ahmed Tinubu<br />
that, as Yoruba<br />
leader, he<br />
should do this<br />
and that<br />
What is your take on President<br />
Muhammadu<br />
Buhari’s<br />
recognition of the late Chief<br />
MKO Abiola and declaring June<br />
12 as Democracy Day?<br />
What President Muhammadu Buhari<br />
did was to bring sanity into our<br />
political system. On June 12, 1993, the<br />
people of Nigeria willingly and<br />
voluntarily elected Abiola to be their<br />
leader and the majority of the votes<br />
were from the North. So, the<br />
annulment was not our making, it was<br />
the making of then-military<br />
government. After that Chief Ernest<br />
Shonekan got the mandate to rule the<br />
country. But General Abacha hijacked<br />
power. But because we want peace<br />
and a sense of belonging for everyone<br />
in this country, General Obasanjo who<br />
was in prison was brought out and<br />
northerners overwhelmingly voted for<br />
him to be President. The Yoruba who<br />
are his kinsmen did not even vote for<br />
him. We voted for him because we<br />
want peace and a sense of belonging<br />
for everyone. I am highly disappointed<br />
to see that the Yoruba are now<br />
clamouring for Oduduwa Republic<br />
and they are not for restructuring. I<br />
think this is treasonable felony. It’s like<br />
the Igbo asking for Biafra. We have a<br />
President from the North, we have a<br />
Vice President from the West and<br />
everybody is represented in this<br />
Federal Government. You see, when<br />
it is time for election, whoever wants<br />
to be anything politically should<br />
contest. And if the people elect him<br />
as President or Governor, we accept<br />
it. We want peace in this country. We<br />
don’t want anything to bring<br />
regionalism or whatever. We have<br />
passed that age. We are a nation for<br />
about how<br />
many years ago now? Over 50 years.<br />
So we should look forward for the best<br />
for this country. The more united you<br />
are, the stronger you are. I don’t see<br />
any reason for the Yoruba to agitate<br />
for Oduduwa republic. It<br />
is unjustifiable. What are they<br />
looking for that they don’t have? I saw<br />
a letter by one Adeyinka Adebayo,<br />
presumably the late general, who<br />
wrote to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu<br />
that, as Yoruba leader, he should do<br />
this and that. It is unfortunate if<br />
people like General Adeyinka could<br />
go sectional or tribalistic as such. I<br />
think we have passed that age of using<br />
religion to divide the country. How<br />
many Muslims and Christians hold<br />
public office in this country? I think<br />
what we should do is to make sure that<br />
we unite the people of this country<br />
into one indivisible unit so that we can<br />
move forward. There is no<br />
country in the world that<br />
is blessed as Nigeria. We<br />
have mineral resources,<br />
oil and vast land to grow<br />
everything. Some<br />
countries depend only on<br />
agriculture, some on<br />
minerals while some oil<br />
but, in our own case, we<br />
are blessed with all. So,<br />
if the people of Nigeria<br />
can unite and work<br />
towards improving this<br />
country, the<br />
abundant resources we<br />
have will be enough for<br />
everybody. And we can<br />
emerge as a developed<br />
country. Nigeria can feed<br />
the whole of Africa if we<br />
take agriculture. We have<br />
various mineral resources<br />
which can generate a lot<br />
of money for ourselves.<br />
Let me take you back<br />
to the point you made<br />
that during election, anybody<br />
can vie for the President? Where<br />
do you place the issue of zoning<br />
arrangement<br />
because<br />
southerners are saying power<br />
should return to them after<br />
President Buhari?<br />
Well, the party I belong to, that is,<br />
the All Progressives Congress, APC,<br />
has no zoning arrangement. We<br />
agreed on that. There is no zoning<br />
arrangement; any Nigerian from any<br />
part of the country can vie for any<br />
•Senator Ali<br />
Yoruba<br />
Repub<br />
— Se<br />
• Calls action<br />
• ‘1966 coup w<br />
• Replies sou<br />
from succe<br />
• ‘Second Re<br />
By Bashir Bello,<br />
Senator Abba A<br />
Republic. Ali is c<br />
Yoruba are inter<br />
they would want the w<br />
Republic.