A retired Naval Officer and former senator representing Adamawa Central, Sen. Abdul-Azeez Nyako, says politicians should largely be blamed for the current security challenge in the country rather than the military.
Speaking to newsmen on Sunday in Yola, Nyako said the Nigerian military which is currently overstretched is doing its best on the situation and deserved commendation.
He said politicians needed to do more in their expected role of providing good governance, particularly in addressing conflicts in their areas and in tackling key issues like extreme poverty that led to insecurity.
“The bulk of us (politicians) are providing bad leadership; we are only concern about distribution of resources instead of good leadership or how to resolve issues and get our people out of mess,” Nyako said.
He said if politicians could address the socio-economic challenges that led to Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping and other violent crimes, over 80 per cent of security challenge in the country would be contained.
He observed that the military had actually degraded Boko Haram insurgents in North East forcing them to resort to guerilla tactics unlike before when they operated in formations.
“What I mean by operating in formation is that they used to muster platoon strength, company strength, battalion strength and probably brigade strength to face our armed forces at the peak of the insurgency.
“They are now degraded and cannot fight in formation; they resorted to guerilla tactics which make things difficult as they are mixed with civilian populace. It’s like fish inside water.
“With this development, the military, government and civilian population has to evolve new tactics to deal with the matter.
“This kind of operation has to be intelligence heavy; there must be communication between civilian population and security agencies. It need big transfer of information, quick reaction and protection of informants,” he said.
Nyako who was the Adamawa governorship candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2019 election also noted that the attitude of Nigerians not bothering about conflicts that doesn’t affect their communities directly must be changed to get the united front needed to address security challenges collectively for maximum result.
On Amotekun and the clamour for state police, Nyako said the issue concerned has to do with abuse of such outfits by State Governors who could use them against political opponents during politicking.
He noted that the 8th National Assembly was careful not to grant state police because of such concern.
