Rose Ejembi
Former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav (rtd.) has said that the establishment of regional security outfits across the country could be part of the grand plan to break up Nigeria. He spoke on other salient security issues.
What is your opinion about the establishment of regional security outfits in some parts of the country? The South West now has Amotekun while the North came up with what it calls Shege-Ka-Fasa recently. Don’t you think this can cause the break up of this country?
I think the aim of setting up these regional security outfits is part of the grand plan to break up this country one day. People are dissatisfied and that is why they are setting up these security organizations in the regions to take charge of security. The way things are going now, they can use these people for the break up of Nigeria. That is how the whole thing looks like. From the beginning, I have been talking on the need for our leaders to increase the number of policemen. We have a lot of idle and jobless people going about in this country. If you absolve them into the Nigeria Police Force, train them, retrain them and post them to villages and hamlets all over the country, this insecurity situation will reduce. But unfortunately, government has neglected this and money meant for security is being embezzled. So, these people are setting up their own regional security organizations. And once these organizations become strong, they will threaten the unity of this country. The one they set up in the North may not hold because it is in the North that we have this general insecurity but they are not doing anything about it. So, why are you setting up a security outfit? The best thing is to increase the number of policemen and try and discourage people from setting up regional security outfits. The moment we do not increase the strength of the police, the moment we do not improve the police, we shall continue to have this issue of insecurity everywhere in the country. And the people have become very bold. They commit criminal acts anywhere and everywhere, yet nobody bothers.
But why is it difficult for the President to remove the Service Chiefs despite calls by many Nigerians in that regard?
You see, there’s this proverb that the new broom sweeps better. If there are new persons who can fill those positions, why not put them in and see how they will perform. These people (Service Chiefs) have been there for a very long time. It’s like they’re moving very fast but remaining where they are and nothing is happening. They have regarded this insecurity situation as a gold mine where they can make money the way they want. I think now that there is a public outcry that they should be changed, there’s no need to keep them any further. They should change them. Let us have new hands. But at the same time, when you have old hands who have been on the job for a very long time, they are more familiar with the job and with the terrain and the operations and they are more likely to do better than bringing in new people. So, when you change them, you may bring people who will be docile and who will not know the job well or who may come with the intention that it is now their turn to come and make money and go. Among the Service Chiefs, I know that Buratai is doing his best but only that, like they often say, a tree cannot make a forest. He (Buratai) is doing his best but whether he is getting support from his subordinates, I don’t know but I know he is doing his best. He is one Service Chief who is outstanding. If others are like him, things would have been better than this. For instance, in the Nigerian Air Force, we have bombers. Why can’t they try to identify these people (criminals)? These people are not spirits. They live among us. Why can’t they try and bomb them wherever they are? We must be ruthless in our attacks if we must win this war against insecurity.
What’s your take on the recent call by some members of the National Assembly that President Buhari should resign?
I think that is laughable because personally, I think the President as a person is doing his best. The thing is that he is not receiving support from his subordinates. But he as an individual is doing his best. If he was receiving support from his subordinates, maybe the situation would have been better. But there is still corruption and he’s fighting it seriously. What is bothering Nigerians is that he is not saying anything, he’s very quiet and people think that he doesn’t even exist.
There’s this agitation by the Igbo for presidency in 2023. They are saying they have never had a shot at the presidency before now and that 2023 is their turn. what’s your take on that?
I’ll say let us deal with the issue of insecurity for now and stop talking about Igbo presidency. This issue of regional presidency is encouraging corruption. Anybody who is trying to have a presidential slot is trying to get presidency for his own region so that he will have the opportunity to steal. It’s all invitation to corruption. I think what Nigeria deserves now is to get the best and not somebody from this region or that region. We want the best man for the job to be our president.
But from the look of things, it looks like the North is still interested in having another shot at the presidency and has thrown up some northerners in that regard.
That again should not arise now. As I said, we should go in for the best. Anywhere in the country that we can get the kind of leader that can serve us better than other presidents, it’s okay by me. Now, we seem to be against Buhari but maybe by the time he steps down, that’s when we will start appreciating him.
But the problem he had at first was that he wasn’t receiving the support of the National Assembly. Now that he is receiving the support of the National Assembly, what is stopping him from dealing with the high rate of insecurity in this country?
You would recall that recently, the CAN Chairman of Michika, Adamawa State was killed by Boko Haram. About the same time, a student of University of Maiduguri was also killed by the same terrorist group. There are many others like the Seminarian and wife of Dr. Ataga that were killed in the same manner.
CAN is saying that all these killings are a deliberate action to exterminate Christians in this country. can you react to this?
If we are to be rational in our thinking, you will find that the number of Muslims killed is more than the number of Christians killed because this insecurity is concentrating mostly in the North and most of the victims are Muslims. A lot of Muslims have been killed and nobody is talking about it. The issue of killing Christians here and there, I think, are isolated cases. I am not saying that Christians are not being killed but its probably coincidental. But we have more Muslim victims of these killings than Christians. Boko Haram is not directed at any particular person or group, they are even more concerned with the Islamic religion. They criticize religion, they criticise the way other people (Muslims) preach other than the way they preach. They criticise any other Muslim. So, for anybody to say the extermination is concentrated in Christians, I think that is very wrong indeed. Let us pray collectively that God should bring a solution to this problem instead of trying to apportion blames.
So, what solution would you proffer to this general high level of insecurity in the country?
All of us in this country should be our brothers’ keepers. We should also be security conscious. One thing that is bothering us is that we are not security conscious. We do not care. Everybody is afraid. We have a lot of policemen who are not being properly utilized. I think about one-third of the police force is used to guard the National Assembly personnel and politicians while the ordinary are left on their own which is wrong. I keep on saying that they should recruit more policemen. There are a lot of school leavers who are roaming the streets without jobs. Give them jobs by recruiting them in to the police force and see if the situation will not improve. Our christian brothers and sisters as supposed to be men of God and are supposed to speak the truth and preach the words of Christ. But when they start generalizing things and making false allegations, it beats my imagination. You cannot say this is concentrated on Christians. As I said earlier, more of the victims of these insurgencies are Muslims. Notable Islamic scholars have been killed and nobody is saying anything about it. I don’t think the killing is concentrated on Christians alone. It’s unfortunate because a lot of us should be our brothers’ keepers. We should pray for one another, we should be security conscious, we should fight collectively for the safety of everyone in the country
How would you react to the saying by the military that it has technically defeated Boko Haram?
You know these people (Boko Haram, kidnappers, murderers) are scattered all over the place. They are everywhere in the country, so they strike surprise. When you think that they are in Sambisa forest, you find them somewhere in Niger, there are some in Bauchi, there are some in other places. So, it is very difficult to defeat them. Maybe, the bulk of this security situation has been properly handled by the military but the pockets of attacks here and there, we have not been able to contain it. It happens everywhere in the world. It is difficult to say you have completely dealt with a situation.