By Daniel Kanu
Activist and public affairs commenta- tor, Comrade Alex Omotehinse, presi- dent, Centre for Human and Socio-Eco- nomic Rights (CHSR) in this interview with Sunday Sun, speaks on insecurity, state police, hardship facing Nigerians and his fears for the country, among other national issues. Excerpt:
How will you react to the secu- rity challenge in the country?
I have addressed this issue of inse- curity at different fora and my position is that the problem of insecurity that we have in Nigeria is as a result of the insincerity of our government.
Yes, let me repeat myself, and I am saying that it is because our government is not sincere in the fight against insecurity. If the government is sincere about it we would have won the battle long before now. Even the police, the Nigerian Army etc, all of them are not sincere in their commitment. Those who are threatening this country, the bandits, the criminals, kidnappers etc, are an infinitesimal number, less than one per cent of our population. If the government is really sincere and they want to deal with them, it will not take them a day, but they keep increasing because the government is not sincere, playing politics with a very sensitive issue. Look, some people are eating fat from the state of insecurity in the land, if not, our security chiefs need to be called to question. What is the essence of their position? What are they doing? Insecurity is increasing day by day in the country and we keep on saying: we have security chiefs, that we have Chief of Army Staff, that we have Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Naval Staff etc, they are doing nothing. They can’t say they are doing something when lives of innocent citizens are wasted in hundreds by the day. The police is not doing what they are supposed to do, just like the other agencies. It is obvious that those in government, those directing the affairs of the country are not handling the issue with sincerity. If the govern- ment is very sincere with winning the way we would have done that before now. Many people are gaining from the proceeds of this insecurity, so they will always want to sabotage the fight while pretending that something is being done. How can the rag-tag Boko Haram be wasting lives the way that they are do- ing and government will still be telling Nigerians that they are on top of the security challenge? You cannot be on top of it and the thing is increasing by the day in its deadly efficiency. Let the government wake up and face reality.
At the moment government
is considering the idea of state police. Do you think it will provide the needed solution if adopted?
State police is not the solution to tackling insecurity. If state police is adopted for this country it will cause more havoc. Example of state police is what we are witnessing in Lagos today with LAST- MA and KAI. You can see the impunity with which they operate. State police will become a tool in the hands of the ruling governors, ruling political parties against their perceived opponents. I do not support the idea of state police. If they are sincere about what they are doing, I still think that we have enough police, we have neighborhood watch, and we have local securities in most places, states.
If the government is sincere about it, I am very sure that the issue of insecurity will be a thing of the past. State police is not the solu- tion. If they enact the law for a state police in the country they will be an instrument, a tool in the hands of the ruling party. We should forget about state police for now because the disadvantage is more.
Some political observers are say- ing that if we do not deal with present Nigeria’s structure that we may not have peace as there will be agitations with no end. What do you say about this?
Yes, on the issue of restructuring one may ask: who and who are we restructuring for? Why? If we restructure our country who is going to take the lead? What we need as I have said earlier is sincerity. If we lead by sincerity, and everyone allows his or her con- science to judge them we will go far. When you are not sincere and you inject injustice into the system, you create a problem. When you kick against equity, justice and fairness, you create a problem, but when those leading us are sincere it does a lot of good for gov-
ernance. We still have people of integrity that can still govern Nigeria well, but one thing we have observed is that when they get to that position their sincerity of purpose will disappear and you will be disappointed with most of the things they do. Look, let me tell you, sincerity is the key. Anybody that rules Nigeria with sincerity, with no political interest, no party interest, no ulterior motive, but with sincerity of purpose, I can tell you that we will have a perfect country.
There was expectation when President Bola Tinubu was being sworn-in as the president that at least things can’t be worst than what Nigerians experienced under President Buhari, but the story is different today as there is much hardship in the land?
(Cuts in) I said it that Tinubu was not the messiah. In fact, all these elements, people that find themselves in the office, not only President Tinubu are not the messiah. The solution to Nigeria’s prob- lem is for all of us to go our separate ways and develop at different levels. We have continued to move from frying pan to fire. When they were bringing Buhari they brought him with the mantra of change. At the end of the day Buhari’s change became the worse for Nigeria.
It became a chain and part of it is what we are still suffering. President Tinubu came in with renewed hope mantra and today we are hopeless, so all these elements cannot save or salvage the country. They are simply being ruled by selfish interests, personal or group.
You are saying that we should go our separate ways, perhaps based on ethnic regions, but you can see what happened to individuals or some agitators in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, seeking for secession?
Those people that masqueraded them- selves as Yoruba agitators don’t know what they were doing; they don’t know how to go about it. That was not the way to follow.
What is your take on the 2014 CONFAB document that was done under the President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure that most Nige- rians want it revisited?
Of course, every necessary docu- ment that needs to be revisited must be re-visited. It is a good template that they can look into and address the contending issues obstructing our development and then implement it.
What are your fears for Nigeria?
My fear is that we are always unfor- tunate to have bad leaders who in turn give us bad governance. We are yet to get the right peg in the right hole. Unless we have the right peg in the right hole in terms of getting our leadership right, we will continue to walk in circles. Getting the right leadership is the key to any progress for Nigeria. The country seems not to be working as it is today.