INSECURITY: Nigeria may cease to be a nation unless we change the narrative -Gbagi

By Ovasa Ogaga,——-

A foremost Peoples Democratic Party,  2023 governorship aspirant in Delta State, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi has called on Nigerians to close ranks in tackling the spate of insecurity in the nation, warning that there may be no nation if the narrative is not changed soonest.   

The security expert disclosed that the worsening security situation in the country calls for a declaration of a state emergency with everybody working hard to resolve the problem; adding that as a nation, there is an urgent need for Nigerians to sit down and discuss how to get out of the current security mess collectively.

Olorogun Gbagi speaking as guest of FRONTLINE, an audience interactive programme hosted by members of Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF) on a topic: “Insecurity in Nigeria: The way forward”, on Sunday, at his Oginibo country home in Ughelli North Local Government Area, attributed the problem of insecurity to deceit.

The former Minister of State, education whose tenure saw the establishment of 15 federal universities, postulated that issues of security have become a trade amongst the managers of the security apparatus of the country, with some of the actors frisking the nation of its resources.

The criminologist, industrialist, and a lawyer also picked holes in the central security command in the country, noting that not until there is devolving of policing structure to other levels, we may be chasing shadows as a nation in tackling insecurity stressing, that a central security command never worked and cannot work in Nigeria situation.

He noted that the failure of the central security structure gave rise to the call by a former Defense minister Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd) and incumbent Minister of Defense, Gen. Bashir Magashi on Nigerians to defend themselves against kidnappers and bandits.

According to Gbagi who was a lecturer at the advanced wings of the Police Collage postulated that the problem of insecurity in Nigeria is “deceit, like every other thing in Nigeria, they made the issue of security as a source of frisking the nation.

“There are people; both buyers and sellers of instruments of security have become a partner in the trade of security. The political leadership must agree and also muster the will to deal with issues of insecurity.

“Nigeria, as it’s today, with regards to security apparatus of the country, is a misnomer, we cannot have inspector General of Police in Abuja who provides security from Abuja to Oginibo, what does he know?

“92% of all the officers at the DPO, ACP, and CP levels don’t know what is going on at their various state before 1999 I delivered a joint lecture of the military and the police and we agreed that we should be devolved, break policing to the local level. There is no way central policing can work, it has never worked and it will never work, talk more of a country like Nigeria that is cash and carry.

He decried a situation where the governor of Enugu state had an intelligent report, called the commander in chief, but was kept waiting for two hours, and while waiting for a directive to be issued, the invaders have successfully launched a devastating attack and left.

The governorship hopeful stated further that governors across the state are helpless in tackling the security situation in their respective state because of constitutional defect that places every issue of security on the lap of Mr. President; hence the governors cannot be held responsible for security lapses in their state.

“While they say the governor is the chief security officer of the state, the commissioner of police, the GOC, DG SSS, and other heads of security will not take instruction from him, then, the term chief security officer of the state bestowed on the governor is worthless.

“The security situation in the country calls for a state of emergency, a situation where the governors cannot give directives to his subordinates’ calls for concern, as it is, they all take orders from a central command from Abuja.

“The implication is that the governors can’t be held accountable for the problems of insecurity in their state.

He, therefore, called on National Assembly to urgently amend the constitution with regards to security if Nigeria is to make inroads into solving the problem of insecurity in the country.

He added that as a nation, “there is an urgent need for Nigerians to sit down and discuss how to get out of the current security mess collectively.

He equally called on taxpayers in Nigeria to demand that security agencies are lived up to their expectations, noting that they cannot be paid with Nigerians taxpayers’ money while they failed to provide security for the people.

“The security situation in the country calls for a state of emergency with everybody working hard to resolve the problem because we cannot continue the way we are going, this nation will not be a nation moment from now unless we change the narrative.