All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Chief Frank Kokori has called on the state governors to be more involved in providing security for Nigerians in their communities, even as he noted that security votes were not being spent on fighting insecurity.
Stating that President Buhari was already overwhelmed by the security situation, Kokori, in an interview with TUNDE THOMAS, urged the government to recruit mercenaries to tackle terrorists killing and kidnapping in all parts of Nigeria.
What’s your reaction to the present state of insecurity across the country?
It’s horrible, and everybody is sad about it. It seems everybody is helpless, and our leaders seem not to have a solution to the ugly situation. This is very sad. It is sad that Nigeria is being turned into a nation where security of lives and property are now at the mercy of terrorists. This is very sad. It is not the kind of country envisioned by the nation’s founding fathers. The nation is drifting, and our leaders have to do something very fast about the deplorable situation. President Muhammadu Buhari should rise up to the challenge because the buck stops at his table.
Although we should not put all the blames on Buhari because the situation started getting bad when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power but we thought that APC and Buhari would be able to carry out a rescue operation. But Buhari has let everybody down. Buhari and APC have no excuse because Nigeria never bargained for this kind of rubbish going on in the country. That our women and our men can’t go to farm and innocent people are being killed every day when we are not at war with another country? This is not acceptable. If those we elected into office can no longer protect us, then they are not worthy to be our leaders. But we should not put all the blames on Buhari.
Why? But he’s Commander-in-Chief
Yes, he is the Commander-in Chief but what about state governors? They also have their own role to play. They should be able to protect their communities working in hand with the local government chairmen. They can mobilise youths in their various communities, and I believe that if they do this, they will be able to secure their communities. It is unfortunate that we are not encouraging vigilance groups. These groups, if they are well monitored and mobilised, can help in the area of security arrangements in the country. The vigilantes can help to checkmate intruders in any community before the arrival of military personnel.
What are the governors using their security votes for? What are the security votes they are collecting meant for? Is it not to protect the people? Obviously the governors are using the security votes for other thing, and everybody knows that. Even within the military the money they budgeted for security doesn’t even get to the rank and file. If the rank and file are properly motivated, we will be getting results. Nigeria is gradually being turned into a banana republic as a result of the nefarious activities of these terrorists. We have to get our priorities right before we can hope to achieve any tangible result. I’m not one of those people who will say that we should leave everything to God. Sadly we are not getting it right.
Our military and the police are not living up to expectations. The budget for our military is very high so they have no excuse for not performing. It baffles me how these bandits operate and our military have not been able to subdue and neutralise them. How can terrorists come into communities on motorbikes, abduct people and nobody can stop them? What are the intelligence arms of the military there for? This is why I said the military have failed us, and our leaders have no excuse. APC should stop talking about PDP being responsible for our present woes. Nigerians voted APC into office in order to provide good governance but what is happening in the country today is not what Nigerians bargained for.
As an APC leader, some people may be saying that I’m not supposed to be speaking like this. But I have always been speaking the truth and those that know me very well know that I will always speak out the truth to those in power regardless of whether I’m an APC member or not.
Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai recently declared that Northern State governors may be compelled to hire mercenaries if terror attacks continued abated……
I agree with him. There is absolutely nothing wrong in that. It is nothing strange. Even the United States and a host of other countries are using them. They call them defence contractors. The United States used them in Afghanistan and Iraq. When you use the word mercenaries, people get confused, and that’s why in the United States and other countries over the world where they use them, they call them defence contractors. These are highly trained professional fighters, and they are paid very well. When they pay them very well, they also do the work very well. If the Nigerian military can’t do the job alone on their own, nothing stops us from recruiting these defence contractors. This will not be the first time that we will be using these defence contractors. They were recruited during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan when Abuja and some other parts of the country were coming under terror attacks. The 2015 general elections was also then fast approaching, and in fact the insurgents attacks were too pronounced in the North-East and Abuja. The elections had to be postponed and these defence contractors were then brought into the country. Their arrival changed the tide against the insurgents as they were repelled.
Nothing stops us from adopting a similar approach again if it will help us get the desired results. These defence contractors can work alongside our troops to fight these terrorists who are daily making life unbearable for Nigerians. These defence contractors fight with sophisticated weapons, and are highly mobile and very daring. I have no doubt that their arrival will turn the tide against these terrorists. You pay these defence contractors very well, and they do their job with professional precision. The morale seems to be low among our troops including the Police. Within the military, the level of commitment also seems to be low, and so they may not be ready to put in their best. Some of them also believe that when they die for Nigeria, that nobody will take care of their families, and this may be part of the reason they are not putting in their best. But I believe that when these defence contractors work alongside our troops, they may have of attitude and orientation.
What Nigerians want is results and not excuses. Nigerians are tired of excuses by the Federal government. They are tired of condolence messages. The casualties from terror attacks are mounting, and Nigerians no longer feel safe and secured. What they want from the Federal Government is concrete action, and not excuses or condolence messages. The senseless killings have to stop. It is very painful that we are not at war with any nation, and yet Nigerians are being killed every day by terrorists. This is not acceptable. If recruiting mercenaries will help put an end to this madness so be it. If these defence contractors come into Nigeria, all these Boko Haram, bandits, and rogue Fulani herdsmen will all run away. The rogue Fulani herdsmen coming into Nigeria from Sahel know that Nigerian soldiers don’t want to confront them, and this is why they are getting so bold by the day. If they are being confronted and dealt with, we wouldn’t have found ourselves in the present quagmire. These terrorists are not as well equipped as our troops but the problem is that we have not been dealing with them the way we ought to.
Some Nigerians have suggested the idea of state police as part of measures to help tackle insecurity…
Buhari will never accept that until he leaves office. Anybody proposing that idea to Buhari should just forget it. But my own belief is that every community in the country should have vigilance groups. Members of the groups will be those who are familiar with their environment, and they can help a lot in the area of security. State governors should support these groups with the necessary logistics that will enable them to function. How can you come from Mali and take over my area and start harassing and terrorising people? If the vigilance groups are there, they will be able to detect on time strange faces and strange movements, and they will subsequently be able to alert relevant security agencies.
Why should the governors be crying out every time to Buhari? What are they using their security votes for? They should use part of their security votes to set up vigilance groups. But the vigilantes must be well monitored to prevent abuse so that the purpose for which they were set up would not be defeated. In fact Buhari that they are looking up to is tired. Crying to Buhari can’t help them. Buhari is overwhelmed. Those of them expecting any intervention from Buhari will be disappointed. Buhari is just waiting for 2023 to come so that he can go back to Daura to rest.
I’m even disappointed by some things happening in the country. How can you go to Tivland and start attacking and killing the people? Nigeria military after Independence, was it not dominated by the Tivs? The Tivs, the Bachamas and other tribes from the Middle-Belt were controlling the military. With all the retired military generals they have, can’t they work with their governors to provide security for their people? If not that the governors are greedy they will just mobilise these retired military personnel alongside the vigilantes to defend their territories. But the governors are greedy. They want to keep the security votes only to themselves alone.
Although the matters is also made worse by Buhari who is tired but seems not to be ready to give some responsibilities to some people who are capable of helping him to achieve the desired result. Rather he relies on members of a cabal who surround him in Aso Rock. This is part of what is killing the country. Members of the cabal are happy about what is going on in the country because they are making so much money out of the Federal Government. With this, the state governors should stop putting so much hope on Buhari. They should rise up and take their responsibilities in their own hands. Buhari is tired, he can’t work more than eight hours in a day. So what do you expect him to do? What are the governors doing with their security votes? I expect the governors to rise up to the challenge instead of crying to Buhari every time.
What’s your reaction to the formation of new political parties with the promoters of the new parties claiming that both APC and PDP have failed Nigerians to justify their actions?
Don’t mind them. They are going nowhere. They are just wasting their time. APC and PDP are the main political parties just like you have the Republicans and the Democrats in the United States as the major political parties. All these new political parties can’t survive. So what aggrieved Nigerians who are disenchanted should do is to join PDP and APC and fight the battle to reform the two parties.
Nigerians are saying that voice of activists, and even labour leaders are no longer being heard on burning national issues, that they seem no longer to be vibrant…
The reason is very simple. It is because of poverty. Trade unions were very strong in those days and we were having our check-offs, and the check- offs were so big. So we had money to run the trade unions. We didn’t take bribes from anybody. But that is not the situation today as some labour leaders have compromised. The same thing goes for activists. Their voices are no longer being heard because they’ve also compromised. Today, there is so much poverty in the land and everybody wants to curry favour from those in authority.
But in fairness to the organised labour, I mean the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, they are trying their best. I have been challenging them on some of these issues, and they are listening to my advice. The union is my constituency. The union made me whatever I’m today, and so I will continue to advise labour leaders. They are part of me, and I have to play the role of an elder to them.
What’s your position on zoning and agitations for a Southern President in 2023?
Before, I didn’t support zoning but today I support zoning. Both PDP and APC should pick their candidates from the South. Nigeria is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic society and we should always put that into consideration in our political system.
Buhari is a northerner, and by 2023, he would have been there for eight years. So the next President should come from the South. If it is zoned to the South, the two parties can pick their candidates from the South-East, having been the only zone that is yet to have the Presidency since 1999. However, that decision is left for the parties to make. But if they don’t want Nigeria to break, the next President should come from the South. Nigerians will not be happy if the next President comes from the North.