Appointment Of A Terror Czar For Nigeria!

First published: 5 January 2011 · 

Terrorism & Insecurity are Siamese twins and cannot be divorced from one another. So are the security agencies in every nation… and in Nigeria they are namely State Security, DMI, NIA (External), Army Intelligence, Naval intelligence, Air intelligence, EFCC (other primary role is counter terrorism). All of these Organisation have heads and are funded by tax payers but are not accountable to anybody. That’s why the Police can afford to be involved in road tolls and the other agencies slept while arms were stockpiled in the regions as depicted  by clashes in Bauchi, Shagamu, Warri, Bomadi, Ekeremor, Okrika, Eket, Jos, Kano, Zamfara, Zakibiam, Odioma et al.

Ordinarily one would assume that the appointment of a Czar on Terror would account for harmonization, efficiency and accountability but one would wonder about the role of the National Security Adviser. It is obvious that we do not lack bureaucratic structures or personnel and maybe laws but the will to do what is right within our criminal/ penal code. Last week on my page I wrote on the refusal of Governors to sign death warrants for those on death row and later recycle them for elections through jail breaks (Adamawa almost happened yesterday). I believe we can contain the current happenings within the confines of existing civil & military laws but lack the political will to the needful.

May I remind the failure of security in the country is a reflection of the state of governance that predates GEJ and can only be resolved when GEJ is sure of governing via a reelection? The current political realities in the polity will not permit GEJ to achieve much for now as everything including some utterances from some of our fb pips have become politicized.

A Czar will make no difference but will be politically correct to the world, but what can he achieve without the power to overhaul our security apparatus which is a condition precedent for progress in this very vital sector. Will the military & Intelligence top brass allow an outsider to call the shots? It is not that intelligence is not gathered but what you do with the information is what matters so even with your solar powered day/night CCTV cameras the question remains …do we have the capacity to deal with the information acquired without we screaming of ethnic or religious marginalization. Are we as a people ready to allow the Goddess of law to apply the law ‘blindfolded’ as required?

My nominees are based on their antecedence of raw courage (in a country where it is in high demand) and they are : Col. Abubakar Umar (RTD), Major Hamza Mustapha or Col.Emeka Omenka…..i guess my nomineess will instigate the appropriate responses for further debates….lol.