18042021 - Ex-Gov Aliyu Lied, not all northern govs worked against Jonathan in 2015

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PAGE 6 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 18, 2021
EBUBE AGU 'COORDINATOR' VOWS: From Enugu command centre, we will secure S/East •Says security outfit is like a step ahead of Amotekun By Kennedy Mbele General Obi Umahi (rted), a former General Officer Commanding 82 Division of the Nigerian Army and Chairman of the South-East Security Committee, in this interview, speaks on how Ebube Agu, the security outfit announced by the five governors of the South Eastern states, last week, will work. OU once said that the South-East Ywas the most secured region in the country. You also said that the region’s governors had concluded plans to set up a security outfit and now they have announced Ebube Agu. From your understanding, could you lead us into what this entails? What has been done in terms of how the outfit will operate? I think there was a committee earlier that included the Attorneys General of the five states of the South-East that came up with the legal framework. I guess the region’s governors studied this framework over time before making the announcement at Owerri. I think the next thing they need to do is to get the states’ Houses of Assembly to make laws backing the outfit and once that is done, everything will roll out. With the announcement, many thought that everything had been sorted out, but it appears that is not the case. Does that not suggest that the governors’ hands were forced as a result of the heightening insecurity that played out in the region, so they needed to just do something to be seen as responding to the security threat? Responding to security threat is number one. Second, I guess there was so much that went on in the background. Security issues require some level of networking because the governors needed to do to be on the same page. I don’t think someone forced their hands, but they were studying the situation like other people, and they felt that the alert had been raised and they needed to do something promptly which they did. You said the Attorneys General are working to ensure that the legal details are finalized alongside the state assemblies. Doesn’t that mean that until that is done, this announcement will be just an announcement? They are working pari-passu, there are things that can be going on simultaneously. So while the Attorneys General are fine tuning the bills to submit to the state Assemblies, the state Assemblies are part of the system, that wouldn’t take them a lot time to come up with a law. From your own understanding, why does it have to take much time for state Assemblies to finalize? One thing you can give to the governors is that they have been networking to reach common ground on all issues. As you may know, security issues are a little bit sensitive. Again, consider the fact that the governors of South-East have contributed so much to the stability of the nation by withholding some actions. I guess this may have led to what someone may call delay, but strategically speaking, it was no delay. I think that so many things were going on at the background but which were not known to many. We understand that it is one central organization that is in charge of security in the South-East. Will the entire South-East operate under Ebube Agu or it will be Ebube Agu in each state? There will be Ebube Agu in each of the states with a command and control center that will help to share information, acquire some security assets as may be permitted by the Federal Government. Such assets may be difficult to get financially speaking, but when the five states come together, they will be able to acquire them. So, there will be a command and control center but each of the states will be responsible for the security of their various domains. Without prejudice to this, the vigilante in Enugu State could support that of Ebonyi and that of Ebonyi could support that of Abia, etc. And, should there be any need for such support, the central body will be in-charge of awareness, information sharing, managing the alarm system which the governors have agreed will be located at Enugu. Does that support imply that vigilantes from Ebonyi can cross into Imo? Yes, why not? We are the same people separated by artificial boundaries. Have you been able to track the reasons for the upsurge of security challenges in the South-East now that necessitated the action of the governors? We have all been watching developments in the security sector, especially in the South-East. In the past, South-East was the most secured and most peaceful region in the entire country. But as we all know, there was a recent attack in Ebonyi by suspected herdsmen, another attack in Enugu, and the jail break as well as the burning of a police headquarters in Imo. All these raised the security alert in the region, warranting the governors to take the action they have just taken which is the setting up of a security framework for the South-East. What can you tell us about the nature and shape that Ebube Agu is going to take? There will be a command and control center in Enugu. Each of the states will have their Ebube Agu structured in a way that will enable quick mobilization, deployments and operations. That structure will be replicated in each of the five states in the region. Each state will ensure security in collaboration with federal security agencies. The command and control center in Enugu will be responsible for passing information, developing an alarm system that can be used in all the states. Is Ebubu Agu in any way similar to Amotekun, the South-West regional security outfit? Yes. They are similar in some ways. But the truth is that Amotekun does not have command and control center. I don’t know Each of the states will have their Ebube Agu structured in a way that will enable quick mobilization, deployments and operations whether they share information. Also, I have not heard of cross border support in their operations, and that tells you that a lot of time has been spent and some details worked out during the period people felt there was no action. The governors were trying to fine tune and be on the same page on virtually all issues so that the operation of Ebube Agu will be seamless as soon as it is rolled out. The timing is quite interesting as it is coming a few days after the country got a new Acting Inspector General of Police and I recall that the South-East governors held several meetings with the former IGP. To what extent is the new IGP being carried along in the whole process? Unlike what obtained in the past, the governors had been doing what I can call diplomatic politicking because they believe in the Nigerian project. They believe that we are better off staying together as one big country instead of going different ways. They have been doing everything to ensure peace and unity in this country. They have not been involved in statements that could overheat the system but that is not to say that they have not been fully concerned with the security of the South-East. What have extracted. •Umahi they have achieved is that they have used networking, penetration and diplomacy to gain support for the South-East security framework from the security agencies and the Federal Government because these agencies and the Federal Government have seen the need for regional security outfit. Is the new IGP saying he will support the initiative? That’s what the governors From the acting IGP? From the entire federal security agencies That is to say that the acting IGP is not directly involved in this? I am not saying that. I said that the South- East governors have extracted support. In any case, what the regional security outfit is doing is to support the federal security agencies to succeed in carrying out their constitutional roles. I think every misunderstanding was based on lack of understanding of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which says that the governor is the chief security of his state. This implies that every governor can employ every constitutional means to ensure there is security SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 18, 2021, PAGE 7 in his state. The federal security agencies are not under the control of governors. So, governors must make their own local arrangement to provide security for their people. Some people argue that the law does not permit regional security outfits, but you are saying the governors extracted that support for regional security outfits? There is no part of the Nigerian constitution that says that states cannot cooperate to achieve legitimate aims. If states can cooperate on agriculture, industry, transportation, why can they not cooperate on security which has overarching importance to the lives and livelihood of their people? Would it be out of place to say that Ebube Agu will facilitate community policing as it will end up being closer to the people than the community policing that the police were working on? No. I rather think that it will enhance the operations of community policing which is about being close to the people, getting information and passing it to the legitimate authorities that can use it to enhance security. The two are not in any way contradictory. They are rather a form of reinforcement that will help achieve the desired security goals not only in the South-East but also if applied across the country. If you say that the governors extracted support from federal security agencies including the police, how then do we situate item 11 in the governors’ communique which says the governors requested the acting IGP to stop the influx of the IGP Monitoring Unit but to allow state and zonal commands to handle their cases? The police arrangement sometimes is internally and inherently contradictory. It is not so in the Nigerian Army where I served. You can’t have a command that you have confidence in the commander… Let me be specific about the police. It is the police headquarters that appoints the commissioner of police because he or she is qualified and competent to hold the position and he is expected to ensure security in the state he has been posted to. Why will the same police pass vote of no confidence in the commissioner of police by sending another layer of security to come and operate in his area of responsibility without reference to him or her? It breeds confusion and security contradiction. I think the police need to address this issue. Check everywhere in the world, there is no where it is happening that way. Sometimes, some of such policies are instigated for some other reasons rather than enhancing the security of this nation. Will Ebube Agu wear the same uniform across the region and will they be operating in the cities or restricted to the outskirts? They will wear the same uniform and will be everywhere, especially where there is need for them to be. As earlier stated, they will collaborate with federal security agencies. Ebube Agu is not going to work as if it has an enemy, security agencies are friends and Ebube Agu cannot succeed without other security agencies. That is why a lot of cooperation will be sought from federal security agencies; otherwise Ebube Agu will not succeed. This is a step to state police. Don’t you think so? Well, state police will come with constitutional amendment, but I guess that Nigeria has nothing stopping it from establishing state police. That is one sure way of improving security of this nation. The provision in the Constitution that confers on the governor the power as a chief security officer envisages that he will have state police that he can use in achieving that constitutional responsibility. I think we should stop at nothing to establish state police. We need state police today more than ever and I think the National Assembly, the Federal Government and every right thinking Nigerian should go for it. At different times in our nation’s political history, security agencies have been accused of meddling with elections. How do we guarantee that Ebube Agu is not used for political purposes? It is a systemic problem. The federal security agencies are used to meddle with elections. If we are not afraid of that, why should we be afraid that the regional security outfit or state police will be used for that same purpose? We need to improve on the stability of our institutional culture. When we get our institutional culture right, those things will come to an end. But, in the interim, what is in the front burner in this country is the issue of insecurity and what we require to address it is state police and some other arrangements. I have said before that this country does not have internal security doctrine. We need it for us to be sure that everybody is doing what he ought to do to ensure security of this nation and when we have insecurity as we are experiencing now, we should be able, if we have a coherent and internal security doctrine, to know the institution that is not doing its work and then we know where to pass the buck. • Interview first aired on Channels TV
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18042021 - Ex-Gov Aliyu Lied, not all northern govs worked against Jonathan in 2015

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