EDO STATE INSECURITY SITUATION: Governor Godwin Obaseki should declear a state of emergency on the Benin/Auchi Expressway ...Fidel Odiase

National Coordinator The New Nigerian youths and The Esan Agenda Crusader, Comr. Fidel Odiase, in an exclusive interview with DAPO ADEYEMI July 15 2021 oknews.com

 "ON THE STATE OF EDO  INSECURITY SITUATION"

Oknews.com

What is your assessment of the state of the country?

 Fidel Odiase: 

We thank God for keeping us alive though we are not where we ought to be but somehow we are not where we use

 to be.

Oknews.com

In Edo State today the insecurity problem Is becoming too alarming. And how do we solve it?

  

 Fidel Odiase: as far am concern, the state government is not doing better in tackling insecurity problems in the state. I expect the governor to declare a state of emergency on the Benin/Auch Expressway.

 

Oknews.com

What do you expect from the state government in tackling the insecurity problem in the state?

Fidel Odiase

Thank you very much for this question...

Since the security situation of this country nose-dived into a catastrophic state, most of the governors have watched helplessly like an ignorant little kid who cannot stand up for himself.

It is easier to hop into a private plane and take a less-than-one-hour flight on taxpayers’ money, and head to the well-protected Aso Rock to table a complaint to the president than call your security chiefs and have a strategic plan on how to deal with issues within your territory.

Except for Rivers governor Nyesome Wike, who has on many occasions vehemently and publicly rebuffed any group causing mayhem in his state.

Wike, since becoming governor, has fearlessly faced insecurity challenges in his state. His dexterity has not stopped clashes and killing in Port Harcourt and environs but his guts to look into the eyes of trouble makers and issues stern warnings, has on its own reduced crime rate by the smallest margin.

I am not here to shower encomium on Wike, but he is the closest example and reference I can point to.

What am trying to say here is, the governor should take his mind to Benin/Auchi expressway and do the needful.

Oknews.com:

Are you not worried about the rising cases of insecurity in the state?

 Fidel Odiase

Very well...every right -thinking Edolite should be worried about how fast things are not working despite the prayers and  efforts of the Authorities.we are worried because the more we think we have seen it all and have it under control, the more its escalate. Imagine the rate of kidnapping on the Benin/Auchi Expressway on daily bases  as if there is no government in the state. The primary responsibility of any government is to secure his people  and wellbeing of it's citizens.

 It is unimaginable that criminals can hold major highways like Benin/Auchi expressway on daily basis and the bandits always hold helpless Road users hostage and inflict a

 reign of terror.

Oknews.com

What do you think is the cause of the growing insecurity in the state?

Hon Fidel Odiase: Unemployment and poverty is the problem...

There is bound to be criminal activities in a situation where people can’t find jobs to do. The situation is so bad that some people cannot afford to eat just once in a day let alone three meals. Things like this should be expected in this kind of situation because people will always find a means of survival, whether good or bad. So, government should declare a state of emergency as far as joblessness is concerned. The problem of joblessness should be tackled with all seriousness. Nigeria is blessed with good lands and there are many crops we can cultivate from the North to the South. So, we have to look at agriculture to provide jobs for our youths.

Oknews: You mentioned 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?

Fidel Odiase: 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.

The criminals masquerading as herdsmen are the ones committing the atrocities we are complaining about. Let me give you an example of the priest kidnapped in Enugu State and then people went around saying they were kidnapped by herdsmen only to find out that they were Igbo boys.

We have issues on the Benin/Auch 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.

Oknews.com: 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?

 Fidel Odiase: 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.

In countries like the U.S. where you have national and state police, they still have the national guards so that when you find out that the police are overwhelmed by the event, the national guards come in. In Nigeria, we don’t have that, so where the police are overwhelmed, the only alternative is to use the military.

Oknews.com Looking at the security architecture of the country, do you support state policing?

Fidel Odiase:  I support state  policing but the problem is  the way most our governors will  monopolise everything. I’m aware that there are two or three times where attempts were made to amend the Nigerian constitution to provide for state policing and it’s been opposed by parts of the country.

There is a lot of suspicions. The political leaders don’t handle power well. Give a governor the power to appoint the commissioner of police or have state police, he will use the police to overcome his opponents.

Look at what happened to state electoral commissions. The opposition parties cannot win an election. So that is the same thing that will happen when you have state police. The opposition will not get security protection.

What we can do is to provide some form of decentralisation of the existing force until such a time that our leaders are mature enough to realise that the general welfare of the people is superior to personal interest.

For now, most of our political leaders don’t understand that it is not about them, it is all about the people.

 But community policing, yes; but under the central control. Central control in the sense that if you employ a policeman, you deploy him to his place. A policeman will not misbehave if his parents know. 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 can 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. 

Oknews.com: Security agents are sometimes fingered in crimes. Very recently, we had a case between the police and army in Taraba. Some also finger security personnel in the kidnapping across the country. Will the average Nigerian ever see an end to all these?

Fidel Odiase: You know the story about the apple and the bad apple? Every apple tree has a bad apple. So it’s not new that we are having collaboration between security agencies and criminals.

You remember the same case of Anenih and Osunbor, the police DPO that collaborated with him? So it’s not a new thing. The question to ask is what is the percentage of criminal elements that are in uniform? I think it is actually low.

You spoke of probably one army captain in the midst of thousands. So it’s normal that you have one or two bad people and because of unemployment, you actually have criminals themselves getting recruited into the military and police and it’s all over the world. Let’s not make it look as if we are the only ones involved. Where we’ll have the problems is if we are unable to fish out the bad elements.

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

 Fidel Odiase: 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 the institution will become stronger than the individual. We are not at that point yet. When we get legislation with the proper practice of democracy, our institutions will become stronger.

Oknews.com

What is your advice to Governor Godwin Obaseki on  Edo State insecurity situation?

Fidel Odiase:

He is the head of the state government and the chief security officer of the state...I like his way of approach to development and bringing investment to the state. He should declare a state of emergency on insecurity in the state especially the benin/Auchi Expressway.

Oknews.com

Thanks for your time

Fidel Odiase:

You are welcome