A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, has called for an urgent need to reform the Nigeria’s security sector.
Delivering the keynote address as the Special Guest Speaker at the 2021 Blueprint Annual Public Lectures and Impact Series/Awards held in Abuja on Tuesday, Dambazau pointed out that practically every geo-political zone has its own contribution to the security challenges in the country.
Speaking on the theme, “2023 Politics, National Security and Nigeria’s Stability,” the former army chief said the provision of adequate security was necessary to achieve President Buhari’s promise of free, fair and credible elections in 2023.
He said: “We urgently need to reform our (security) sector if we must guarantee the nation’s security and stability. For the reform to be successful, we also need to consider the importance of the welfare of the security personnel, there salaries, housing, education for their children, and any incentive that will boost their morale and make them sacrifice more.”
Dambazau pointed out that the issues of zoning, restructuring, state policing, identity politics, religious and other sentiments will have a far-reaching impact on the 2023 elections.
He argued that Tinubu’s choice of Kashim Shettima was “not by chance” but deliberate due to his capacity to manage crises, among other outstanding leadership qualities.
He told Nigerians that rather than direct their energy on issues of religious and ethnic sentiments, they should focus on how to reduce poverty and provide good governance.
Dambazau, who is also a former defence minister, stressed that adequate arrangement must be made ahead of the 2023 elections, adding that the security threats against the elections are not only the insurgency in the North but also from IPOB who have threatened that there would be no election in the South-east.
While pointing out that IPOB or any other group should not be allowed to threaten the corporate existence of the country, he stressed the need for the government to have a rethink on its counter-insurgency strategies.
He added that those found wanting should be severely punished to serve as deterrent to others.
Earlier, the chairman of the occasion, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, had urged Nigerians to use diversity as a source of strength in achieving a united and prosperous nation, adding that no election or interest of any single individual is worth sending Nigeria to war.
The governor also said the 2023 elections should be competence-driven for a united and prosperous Nigeria.
Buni said: “Our diversity should serve as our source of strength for a united and prosperous Nigeria.
“Therefore, for us to succeed, we must, as a deliberate policy, avoid politics of hate and promotion of religious and ethnic sentiments that are gradually eating deep into the fabric of our nationhood.
“The government, with the collaboration of stakeholders, should create the required awareness among our supporters and the people of Nigeria generally, to condemn and discourage inciting propaganda, for a peaceful and successful election in 2023.”
Also speaking, the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, described Nigeria’s challenges as man-made.
Bello, who contested the recent presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said the country’s challenges are not from God.
According to him, “Nigeria is a nation bedeviled by a lot of challenges, these challenges are man-made, God did not create these challenges for us.”
Without naming anybody in particular, Bello faulted the manner insecurity is being tackled in the country, saying, “You cannot have those profiteering from insecurity to be the same ones to bring solution to it, how is that possible? You want to close their business?”
He asserted that given what is known about Nigeria’s insecurity, the challenges can be eliminated within six months.
He said: “This insecurity that we are faced with, I am a governor and I know so much, before, during and after the general elections, six months is just too much to eliminate them.”
He said Nigerian youths will set the agenda for Sen. Bola Tinubu who clinched the APC presidential ticket because the youths own the future.
Bello stressed that Tinubu has the pedigree and capacity to lead the country out of its current socio-economic woes.
“Today we have the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in person of Bola Tinubu. You can hate him, but you cannot take his achievements and successes away. He has touched majority of all the candidates we have today.
“As Nigerian youths, we will be setting agenda for our next administration – the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu – because the youths own the future.
“Our role number one is to elect, vote that leader who you know to be able to ensure fair and equitable administration. If we elect a criminal, if you elect a liar, if you elect those who will only come to fill their pocket it will amount to nothing.”
He urged the youth to elect those who have the political will to eliminate insecurity in the country.
Bello argued that the leader who will turn the fortunes of the country around for the greater good of all Nigerians is Tinubu.
He stressed that the issue of Muslim/Muslim ticket, Christian/Christian ticket “is just a sentiment to divide the country and put us on a different trajectory that will make it difficult for us to unite this country.”
While commenting on Dambazau’s lecture, a former spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Sani Kukasheka Usman (rtd), revealed how Dambazau resisted the pressure mounted on him to seize power from President Jonathan following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010.
Usman said Dambazau not only resisted the pressure from people the former army spokesperson described as “enemies of Nigeria”, he also promised the international community, which got wind of the development, that he would do no such thing.
Usman said, “One thing Nigerians do not know is that if we are counting champions of democracy in this country, there is no way you will not mention Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, and I will tell you why.
“Way back in the days when President Umaru Yar’Adua was sick, he was the Chief of Army Staff and I had the privilege of being public relations officer in the office of the army chief. I had the privilege of moving with him. We always moved together and I knew.
“Even though he is a prolific writer, he is yet to come out with his memoir and part of that memoir should be an expose of those people that undermined democracy in this country.
“I am saying this with every sense of responsibility, because that time the same group of politicians were the ones lobbying him to take over government unconstitutionally.
“We have the records and when he started writing the memoir, with due respect to him, I told him that he had to mention the names of the individuals so that posterity will remember them for who they are.
“Up till now, we are still contending with that issue and I know that the international community showed concern, to the extent that they had to meet with him, where he promised that he will not take over government.
“We still live with the flaks wherein some parts of the country, they call us women, because an opportunity came and we did not take advantage of it to take over government. Now, what am I driving at? All these issues that we are talking about lack focus on critical issues, discussing mundane issues; they are threatening the very corporate existence of this nation.
“When we visited 44 Reference Hospital, Kaduna, people were asking, when is the announcement going to be made about taking over government? I’m so happy Gen. Akinyemi, the GOC 3rd Amoured Division (Jos) is still alive. You can ask him.
“A simple phone call to him to roll out the tanks and Gen. Dambazau would have been head of state, but he resisted that temptation simply because he had the interest of this nation at heart and he knows that democracy is the best form of government for this country.”
In his remarks, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Blueprint Newspapers Limited, Alhaji Mohammed Idris Malagi, advised the Federal Government to do more to protect lives and property across the country.
Malagi, who is also the Kakaaki Nupe, commended the security agencies in the country and called for synergy between the government and the people in order to tackle insecurity.
He stated, “I, therefore, use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government of Nigeria, on whose shoulders rests our national security, to do more to protect lives of citizens from terrorists, bandits and other militias that are rampaging our cities, forests and creeks. Our security challenges must be overcome at all costs. Critically, we must not allow the issue of insecurity to define the debates of 2023.”
He revealed that the event was the 11th anniversary of the newspaper, adding that they have gotten used to the harsh and difficult terrain in the business, saying that at “this point is no retreat, no surrender.”
“The fact that we have gone this far is an indication of our ability in the business newspaper production. It is nerve breaking, it is also very hard, but the staff and management of Blueprint have kept the promise.
He added: “As one of Nigeria’s leading newspapers, we are constantly on the part of peace building and national security. At Blueprint Newspapers, we pray every day not to be agents of destabilisation of the Nigerian state.
“Our aim and objective all the time is to ensure that Nigeria remains one and united,” Idris reiterated.
The highpoint of the event was the unveiling of the recipients of 2021 Blueprint awards. Prominent persons, including Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, Minister of Power Abubakar D. Aliyu, and Governor of Adamawa Ahmadu Fintiri, as well as corporate bodies and NGOs, were honoured with the prestigious awards.
