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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, has criticized the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for his recent claim that “Nigeria’s security situation is not too bad.”
This is as Onwubiko called on the NSA and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, to proactively address the escalating insecurity by identifying and apprehending all sponsors of foreign armed bandits terrorizing the nation.
Speaking with Pointblank News, Onwubiko stated that with the federal government having completed 50% of its four-year tenure, it is “unacceptable that it is still busy creating excuses why the security forces are getting overwhelmed by the activities of armed non-state actors.”
He said, “The role of the government is to lead from the front and combat insecurity and all the threats against the good people of Nigeria.
“For the umpteenth time, we condemned the massive killings which the federal government has allowed to continue in Benue and plateau states.
“The National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu should stop giving lame excuses for the gross incompetence and crass inefficiency of the security infrastructures to combat the rising spate of killings.”
The HURIWA’s coordinator said, “The NSA and the CDS should be in a good position to determine the sponsors who invite armed foreign insurgents into Nigeria. This federal government must and should have the wherewithal to intelligently ascertain the exact sponsors who ferry foreign terrorists into Plateau and Benue states.
“It will be disastrous if the federal government is incapable of sniffing out those bad guys ferrying in foreign terrorists into the country. So what has the federal government been doing with the humongous amounts of public funds funneled into fighting threats to the national security interest of Nigeria?”
Onwubiko highlighted the repeated claims by the Governors of Benue and Plateau states regarding the foreign origin of the attackers, stating, “If the Governors of these two states of Benue and Plateau under constant attacks have repeatedly revealed that the attackers have foreign origin, it therefore follows that some dark forces within Nigeria are responsible for engaging and paying these terrorism masterminds to invade parts of Benue and Plateau states to attack citizens.”
He further questioned the government’s capacity, saying, “If the federal government through the National Intelligence Agency doesn’t have this competency and the relevant capacity to know those behind the importation of foreign terrorists into Nigeria, then it can well be assumed that Nigeria is actually a failed state.
“It is disappointing that Nuhu Ribadu is telling us that this government inherited a bad security situation which is an admission of failure. It’s like saying, we the government of Nigeria can’t protect you the citizens and this is because we inherited a bad security situation. Nigerians are sick and tired of cock-and bull stories from heads of security institutions.”
The pro-democracy activist concluded, “Rather than keep reeling out numerous untenable excuses for the twin evils of intelligence and security failures that have led to the proliferation of killings of citizens by armed non-state actors, what the Nigerian citizens are expecting from top security chiefs such as the service chiefs and the NSA is to implement foolproof proactive security and intelligence generating mechanisms and steps to put the killers of Nigerians out of work and bring both the killers and their sponsors to face decisive justice.”