The President of the African Council on Narcotics (ACON) and Security Consultant, Drug and Crime Prevention Specialist, Rekpene Bassey has alleged that President Mohammed Buhari lacked the political will to stop insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery.
Speaking with reporters on Monday via phone, Rekpene Bassey regretted the actions of the President, saying he was not in charge of the government.
“The primary reason for the escalation of insecurity in Nigeria is the lack of political will on the part of the government, if you notice, even the armed forces are politicised.
“You cannot deal with security politically, once you politicise security, there is a tendency that you will get backlash, negative outcome and so on. But with appropriate political will, it will be easy to curb insecurity.
“When a crime is left unchecked there is a tendency that it will escalate because there is no deterrent, others who have been waiting to see the reaction of government or appropriate institutions of security will probably join the fray, more so there is so much poverty in the land or in the country”
Bassey, a former Member of the Cross Rover State Executive Council and Security Adviser to Gov Liyel Imoke said everybody was clamouring for a change of service chiefs and now service chiefs have been changed but the security situation has not abated or changed
“It is so because the security chiefs were only the operation commanders, the people who do the job, how do they feel, how motivated are they, how properly equipped are they, do they have appropriate training, it takes the combination of the right strategy, appropriate political will
‘Why did it take so long to change the service chiefs, was it done professionally and has things changed? I would want to see a situation where the President and Commander in Chief take charge of the security situation in the country, he doesn’t seem to have control of security architecture.
“If he is in charge and in total control and he has constitutional backing and power to appoint and fire service chiefs he should give them marching orders and give them a time limit, for instance, one year, to get the bandit out of the way or failure they will be dealt with and also provide them with the necessary equipment to execute the operation” he stated.
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