Don’t Play Politics with National Security, Irabor Warns

Chuks Okocha

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor yesterday cautioned Nigerians against playing politics with national security through their actions and utterances.

He warned that politicising security issues could be dangerous to the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria

Irabor gave the warning in Abuja yesterday, during a roundtable discussion with the theme: “Going for Broke: Fighting Insecurity in Nigeria,” organised by 21st Century Chronicle media organisation. He regretted the role politicising issues around insecurity had played in the escalation of the challenge being faced by the country.

“I would plead that issues that border on national security and defence should not be politicised,” he said.

The Defence Chief who condemned primordial sentiments into security issue, noted that it could dampen the morale of troops in the frontline, adding that this also contributed in aggravating the insecurity situation in the past.

According to him, the trend inadvertently promoted the cause of adversaries who had taken up arms against the Nigerian state.

He, however, said the situation had improved tremendously, noting that the trend has not been totally eliminated.

Irabor listed resource constraints as one of the issues confronting the ongoing counter-insurgency campaign. Specifically, he pointed out constraints of inadequate manpower and equipment.

“The situation has however improved in the last few years, but it is not yet Uhuru,” Irabor said.

He also identified the nation’s porous borders as one of the challenges confronting military operations, stressing that a lot of loose weapons used in the Libyan crisis found their way into Nigeria through unmanned borders.

He also blamed the slow pace of judicial process in the prosecution of terror suspects arrested during military operations and called for appropriate judicial reforms that would speed up the process.

“Over reliance on foreign input in terms of equipment and platforms and inadequate bilateral commitment from Nigeria’s immediate neighbours like Cameroon, Chad, Niger are also some of the factors that should be addressed,” Irabor said.

On the way forward, the Defence Chief canvassed intelligence- driven approach and the need to increase the operational capacity of the Police and other security agencies in the country.

This, he said, would lessen the burden on the military, as he revealed that 80 per cent of troops are currently in one form of operation or the other in different parts of the country.

Irabor also urged the leadership to place more emphasis on building and strengthening military industrial complex in the country, even if the facility was going to be private sector driven.

The CDS disclosed that a good number of armed vigilance group, code named “civilian JTF” were being trained and absorbed into the Nigerian Army under strict supervision.

The disclosure was in response to a question on what becomes of the civilian JTF in the near future after the counterinsurgency operations might have been over.

A former Defence spokesman, Brig-General Chris Olukolade (rtd) who also spoke at the event, observed that inter-agency rivalry among security agencies had not helped the counter-insurgency effort.

Olukolade said internal sabotage, which he said was usually inspired by those he described as, “conflict merchants” as one of the contributing factors to the growing security challenges.

However, a former Governor of Borno State and serving senator, Kashim Shettima, who chaired the event, blamed rivalry among the immediate past service chiefs as one of the problems that slowed down military operations in the past.

According to Shettima, the ex-Service chiefs were all lobbying to become Chief of Defence Staff and in the process undermining each other and the security processes. He, however, commended Irabor for bringing synergy into the security system, saying there have been improvement in the security system in the country.

Former governor of Niger State, Emir Awwal Ibrahim, urged government to review the information network as a possible way to address the increasing level of insurgence in the country.