27022020 - Insurgency: Depressed soldier shoots 7, kills self

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020 — 21
AMOTEKUN: Regional security outfits
not the answer — Abakederemo
*Way forward is restructuring the Police
MR Joseph Abakederemo, convener
South-South Reawakening Group, a socio
political and Think Tank for the Niger-
Delta region, in this interview,
speaks on agitation for regional security
arrangements by several groups and
persons across the country, saying it is
not the way forward. He blames the
myriad of problems plaguing the nation
on corruption.
By Jimitota Onoyume,
Assistant News Editor
WHAT is your posi
tion on regional security
being canvassed in
several quarters?
It is not healthy, people
have been speaking, it has
generated a lot of controversy.
It is something we
have to avoid. I don’t want
to be a proponent of regional
security outfit. Even
the ones governors are creating
have not been helpful.
For me corruption is at
the root of all this. The Nigerian
Police are short
staffed. We still rely on the
conventional way of fighting
crime. Training for
manpower is weak. The
Police don’t want to think
outside the box. Modern
day technology to track
crime are lacking in the
Police and other security
agencies
We begin with the Nigeria
Police on internal security
and at some point the
President can bring in the
army. I ask this question,
when has the Nigerian Police
become a revenue generating
agency? We don’t
know the Police, the army
as revenue generating
agencies.
Today, besides providing
security for politically exposed
persons and their
families there are crop of
wealthy Nigerians , not
even wealthy, any Nigerian
that stumble on money
somewhere will go and get
the Police to provide security
for them and their families
and this the Police
does not do for free. The
same with soldiers. You
find two, three hilux trucks
loaded with soldiers escorting
one person. The escorts
are not for free, they
are paid for. I know situations
where the beneficiaries
pay as much as one
million naira a month to
the ogas in the office. Not
to talk of the oil companies
down South-South
enjoying this too. You cannot
find this in any other
country except in Nigeria.
I have travelled to many
cities, I have not seen soldiers,
and Police providing
security this way for private
individuals.
So I come back to the
question, who gives account
for this money the
Army and Police get for
providing security for individuals?
Do they pay the
money to the federation
account because they are
institutions funded with tax
payers money. The answer
is no, it goes into private
pockets and the money is
shared. This money runs
into billions of naira every
year.
You see security men
lobbying to be posted to the
houses of individuals.
They say they get free food,
get some allowances from
the ogas they protect; and
have time to relax. At times
you hear them say” that
man I worked with takes
care of somebody well, this
other guy is not good”. So
where will you find commitment
for the job?
I know a contractor in
Port Harcourt, he goes
about with two hilux trucks
of soldiers and he refers to
the soldiers as “my dogs.”
What do you expect to happen
in this scenario?
Corruption is at the root
of all. You hear a Divisional
Police Officer, DPO
when he leaves office, he
says he has built shopping
mall everywhere. It is also
here you hear a police
Commissioner retiring
from office saying he has
housing estates scattered
everywhere. Where do they
make the money from? Are
you telling me, a Police
man in County, New York ,
Huston or Florida, a Sheriff
in a County which is
about the rank of a DPO
will leave office and begin
to flaunt properties he ac-
•Abakeredemo
quired in office. How will
he explain it? It is only in
Nigeria you see Police Sergeants,
Army Corporal acquire
properties while in
office, nobody ask questions.
So where do we draw
the line? They have abandoned
the functions of
their job to pursue private
wealth.
Regional security is not
the option
When the Amotekun
thing came out, the former
governor of Bayelsa State,
Chief Seriake Dickson
said he supported it. He too
had created five security
outfits in Bayelsa. Have
they solved any crime in
Bayelsa? You see how cultists
operate everywhere, the
sea piracy is high, pipelines
are still being vandalized,
people are killed
everywhere, you see corpses
on the roads in Bayelsa.
So this security arrangement
is not a solution. This
was how they shouted in
support of Civil Defence
Corps, what has happened?
The way forward is
to restructure the Nigerian
Police force. If the Police
is structured we won’t
need the army on our roads
who are also collecting
money.
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