INSECURITY SITUATION IN EDO STATE: Amb. E Abumere Endurance talks about steps that can be taken to curb insecurity in Edo State in particular, Nigeria in General.

Let's meet  Amb. E Abumere Endurance  a grassroot politician presently contesting for Esan West Local Government Council Chairmanship seat.

Amb. Ekenomolenfu Abumere Endurance was born  Into The family Of Late. PA Godwin Ekenomolenfu Ediale In Ujemen Ekpoma Esan West Edo State. 

Amb. E Abumere Endurance is popularly known as EDDY TUSH. 

He is married to Mrs T I Ekenomolenfu with two beautiful children. He is An Entrepreneur that preside over conglomerates.

In this interview with  ADE  SMITH of OKNEWSONLINE  Tuesday 23rd February 2021

He talks about steps that can be taken to curb insecurity in Edo State  particular  Nigeria in General.

 Oknewsonline: Are you a first timer in Nigeria politics?

 Eddy : No! I am not a first timer though this is my first time to contest for local government Chairman position. 

I am not a first-timer  I have been in Nigeria active politics since 2003. And I know what good governance is all about.

I have traveled round the world and I’ve been around for quite a while. I’ve actually control business in different capacities.

 Oknewsonline what is the insecurity  situation report in  Esan West and Edo State in General? 

Eddy the insecurity activities  in my local government   (Esan West)  is getting out of  hand because the citizen and travelers are not safe any more ... kidnapping has become the other of the day. I urged the Security agents to do something about it before it's get out of hand.

 Oknewsonline In relation to the recent kidnapings across the country, especially Edo State do you think the GSM service providers are to an extent to blame, considering the fact that all lines are registered with a name and biometrics?

 

 Eddy : It is not the job of service providers to track the kidnappers, it is the job of the law enforcement agencies. What they will do is to collaborate with the service providers.

A lot of kidnappers now use Thuraya, Thuraya is not within the network, so it goes beyond that. But then, I think our security agencies have the capacities to track, I don’t think their problem is tracking.

 Oknewsonline : I understand that you based in Benin  what is the security  situation in the acient City?

 Eddy : no place is safe in Edo State, in Benin particular, cultism is the Other of the day ...they fight everyday as if we are in the war Zone while the Herdsmen are perpetrating havoc on daily basis.

 Oknewsonline : Is   unemployment and poverty as the two major causes of criminality. What about the farmer-herdsmen clashes, can we attribute these two factors to these form of insecurity?

 Eddy: You need to understand that this issue of herdsmen-farmers, there are two dimensions to it. The genuine clashes between herdsmen and farmers which means herders grazing their cattle to the farmland of the farmers, that’s what you have in parts of Benue, Taraba and some other places. Then you now have criminals masquerading as herdsmen, engaging in criminal activities. You must isolate the two.

We have issues on the Lagos – Benin expressway attributed to herdsmen. Every criminal has now adopted that cover of herdsmen. We need to separate them.

But the reality is that where we have issues of genuine herdsmen and farmers, then we need to find a way herders do not graze their cattle outside a fenced environment where you won’t find any business infringing on the right of other people.

Sometimes, resources are always inadequate, are there ways that resources can be brought from other areas to assist the security agencies? They do not have enough, personnel are not adequately trained, their welfare is poor, they don’t have even the basic needs to get their jobs done.

Oknewsonline what is the state government doing to  eradicate the insecurity situation in the state? 

  Eddy the state government are trying especially the governor He is doing his best to make sure all the criminals are being apprehended.

I urge the traditional rulers, the local government Chairmen and the citizens to support the  governor to achieve his aims.

 Oknewsonline : There is this feeling that Nigeria today is militarised, there are several military operations across the country under different code-names and Nigerians are asking, why do we have soldiers doing the work of the police?

 Eddy: Because we don’t have enough police officers. You have to look at the UN ratio, you are supposed to have one policeman for 250-300 people. That’s the general requirement, but in Nigeria, we actually have one policeman to 650 people, which means we need to double the population of the Nigerian police for effective policing.

When you look at that UN ratio, it is worse when you have to look at policemen per weapon. How many rifles do they have? Even if we say we have 500,000 policemen, how many weapons do they have to combat the criminals?

We have to look at this vis-a-vis our population. We have a large population and we have policemen who do not have the resources and training and manpower to protect, so the military is brought in to assist them.

 Oknewsonline: Looking at the security architecture of the country, do you support state policing?

 Eddy : yes! very well the state  police will be  of great help to the federal police. We need to encourage the National Assembly for  Nigeria constitution to be amended  for state policing.

The advantage of state police is bigger than the disadvantage. The state police or community police, knows more about his or her community than any body and if  you deploy him to his place, He will not misbehave  If you are asked to protect your own people, you won’t have a choice than to behave yourself.

But if you take someone from Sokoto to Lagos, he n't afford to stand on the road and shoot somebody and feel like he doesn’t care. But where he is known, he will be better behaved.

 Oknewsonline what is our local vigilante doing to arrest the insecurity situation in our communities

 Eddy: the vigilante are working so hard to bring down the insecurity situation in the state but they need to be  encouraged and empowered Financially. I suggest that the local vigilante  be placed  on salary by the state government.

 Oknewsonline : Do you think it is time for security to be separated from politics? There is this suspicion that every crime has a political undertone.

 Eddy You can’t isolate politics from security. Why is that civilians will still have to give instructions. When you look at what has happened in the U.S. between the FBI with the CIA and Donald Trump, the investigation of the Russian firm and attempt by Trump to impose his FBI and CIA, you could see there was resistance because there were some measures of independence for these agencies.

We will get to a point where our democracy and  institutions will become stronger.

 Oknewsonline : You spoke about the strengthening of institutions, if you are  the local government Chairman can you strengthen the institutions?

 Eddy : I will do my best to strengthen the  Local government  institution when I becomes the Chairman of Esan West  God's willing.

 Oknewsonline what is your advice to the citizens  of the state particular, Nigeria in General?           

 Eddy : we all need to support the government because if you look at it critically, we are  the government. I was with the commissioner of police of Edo State  last week to discuss the insecurity situation matters with him and suggest the way forward ... I believe if we all come together with one voice we can over come this insecurity problem in this country.

 Oknewsonline : thanks for your time 

 Eddy : thanks for having me