Growing Insecurity:  Tambuwal asks service chiefs to resign

Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has called on the service chiefs to resign their appointments as a mark of honour over the worsening security situation in the country.

According to Tambuwal, resigning was the honourable thing to do if President Muhammadu Buhari failed to sack them, adding that the Buhari-led Federal Government should also admit failure in the area of security, noting that governing the country and protecting lives and property is not rocket science.

Tambuwal made the call on Friday at a webinar organised by the Emmanuel Chapel, with the theme, ‘Rebuilding our lives: A case for hope and determination to succeed.

The Sokoto governor explained that it was ironical that security agencies were short of personnel even when millions of Nigerians ready to serve were roaming the streets.

The webinar also had in attendance, banker and former President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; a former Vice-President of the World Bank, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili; former Emir of Kano and ex-governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, and legal practitioner, Prof Konyinsola Ajayi (SAN).

Tambuwal said: “As far back as June 2018, I made my opinion known about our service chiefs and the Inspector-General and I called for the rejigging of the security architecture.

“There is definitely a need for the service chiefs to go, either they are asked to go by the President who appointed them or by themselves being honourable enough to say we have done our best. It’s clear; even the Commander-in-Chief has said it not once or twice that their best is not enough.

“They should be honourable enough to say, Mr President, we have done our best, our best is not enough, you have adjudged our best not to be good enough, we take a bow, appoint a new set of people that would take charge.

“No one of us is indispensable. No single individual has the monopoly of knowledge of how to address the challenges we are facing as a nation, more so with insecurity, especially with the fact that they have been tested over the years. The same set of people and we have seen the outcome of their efforts.”

Speaking on how the Federal Government had managed the security situation in the country, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives said that leadership entails taking critical actions to address emerging challenges.

“We must as a leadership admit that we are failing, and in this case, I mean the centre is failing in providing that leadership”, he said, explaining that security agents should be equipped with the proper weapons, good remuneration, the right technology and possible collaboration with other countries.

He added: “It is not rocket science; it can be done. We need to recruit more hands and there are many patriotic Nigerians, eminently qualified, able-bodied people that are ready and willing to serve this country in our security agencies. We know Nigeria is under-policed, so what is difficult in employing more hands?”

He pointed out that there had been a cordial relationship with security agencies in his state, Sokoto, adding that intelligence sharing among them and the support from the state government had helped to reduce crime in the state.

“They have been working together in synergy in Sokoto, unlike what is happening at the national level, and we know that there is no synergy among the heads of the security agencies. They are not working together”, he added.

The governor however argued that insecurity had worsened, especially in northern Nigeria, because most of the countries sharing borders with the region such as Cameroon, Niger Republic, Chad, have “serious insecurity problems.”