Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Henry Seriake Dickson, has said that the South West security initiative, Operation Amotekun, reflected in clears terms the inevitability of restructuring.
The governor said that regional security mechanisms like Amotekun were necessitated by the politicisation and collapse of the centralised national security apparatus in the country.
He said that the politicisation and the over-centralisation of security without an effective funding mechanism, and arrangement for professionalism has reduced Nigeria to an un-policed country.
The governor described Amotekun as a component of the restructuring which he had championed in the country in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Fidelis Soriwei, on Monday.
The governor, who said that he was a strong advocate of the devolution of policing powers, added that the issues of control of policing powers are a critical component of restructuring.
The governor further said that he had championed the crusade for restructuring more than any governor in the country and had taken the message to all parts of the country including two meetings with the president to impress on him to take charge of the initiative.
He warned that if the country did not restructure now, there might be nothing left for Nigerians to restructure when they are ready and urged the president to take the lead on the issue of restructuring for Nigeria to survive.
He stressed he had championed the sensitive issues of restructuring, state police and true federalism more than any governor in the country.
He said that every state in the South South has some form of internal security mechanism to collaborate with law enforcement agencies.
According to him, Bayelsa under his leadership has the Bayelsa Volunteers, the State Vigilante, the Community Safety Corp, the Water Security, all backed by the law.
He said that apart from other meetings where he led governors of the South South and Niger Delta leaders, he had only had two private meetings with the president which had the chief of staff in attendance on two occasions.
The governor said that the meetings focused on the operations of the Amnesty Programme, (the Avengers Crisis) and restructuring.
He said that the South South would hold a meeting of regional security at the right time if there is a need for such a meeting.
He said: “No governor from the South South has made serious comments on the issues of restructuring, state police, and true federalism. I have taken the message for restructuring, true federalism and the need for state police everywhere, even to the doorstep of the president.
“I have had two meetings with the president and his chief of staff. In those meetings, I called on him to raise the issue of restructuring and the need for the president to lead the initiative.
“This South West Initiative, Amotekun, is a clear issue of restructuring. It is like the state and regional police that I have been calling for.
“My views on restructuring are in the public domain and I have taken it to the president himself unlike those who are running away from critical issues affecting our people.”
He said that as governor, he introduced similar security mechanisms to respond to the destabilisation of his state.
The governor lamented the shocking politicisation of security in Bayelsa in such a manner that criminals killed, maimed, and carried out heinous acts without fear.