Insecurity: FG is taking appropriate steps—Oshiomhole

Former governor of Edo State and senator representing Edo North in the National Assembly, Adams Oshiomhole, has said President Bola Tinubu is taking all the necessary steps to tackle the security situation in the country.

The former All Progressive Congress (APC) national chairman stated this while featured on Politics Today on Channels TV anchored by Seun Okinbaloye and monitored by the Nigerian Tribune on Monday in Abuja.

According to Oshiomhole, everybody has a role to play to fix Nigeria’s security problems, saying what the country is currently battling is a complex issue that requires holistic thinking to achieve a national and common consensus.

He said, unlike under previous administrations, Tinubu’s administration is taking decisive steps to bring criminals who are undermining Nigeria’s peace to justice through conviction.

He also talked about the directives of the president to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to recruit 30,000 police officers to complement the fight against insecurity to allow the military to protect the territorial space of the country.

Oshiomhole, who said President Tinubu is not leaving any stone unturned to stem the ugly trend of insecurity in the country, alluded to the fact that the resurgence in security situation is unusual did not rule out the involvement of fifth columnists.

He said, “My position is this first: that I believe President Bola Tinubu is doing his very best. And check it out. Because he was not satisfied with the pace of progress even though we’ve been making progress, he did not wait for Nigerians to call on him the way Nigerians used to do during the tenure of his predecessor to replace the service chiefs and appoint new ones with a clear mandate:

“I will not take any excuses, no more excuses, he said to the service chiefs”. That shows a President that knows what is going on and is not lamenting it and is taking steps to fix it.

“But remember, like every ailment, this issue of insecurity had been there since about 2006 to 2023 when President Tinubu took over. Like an alchemic ailment, over time, this disease must be handled differently and at inception must have been nipped in the bud. But it has been allowed, like cancer that has gotten to stage 4. And what President Tinubu has been doing is to do eve possible…

“I have seen where America even commended the Directorate of State Security Services, the DSS, for helping to apprehend some notorious terrorists that are wanted not only in Nigeria but outside the boundary of Nigeria.

“The fact that the guy is not completely fit to resume playing football is not to deny the fact that appropriate surgery has been carried out and is still being carried out. Nobody is pretending that it’s all over but let no one deny that progress has been made.

“Because I was in this country when we’re forced to postpone national elections because Boko Haram has taken over and installed foreign flag in about 18 local government areas in the North East. And I mentioned some of the things that have happened here.

“Through your television station, I’ve watched a lot of people who have been convicted (of terrorism). The only worry I have as far as those convictions are concerned is that I don’t know the power of the judges where the law says “He shall be sentenced to death if guilty of terrorism and a just sentenced to 20 years.

Oshiomhole added, “I’m unable to understand that. Different judges … the law passed by the Parliament. The business of the judge is to interpret. Those types of cases, I’m sure the President at those that if you have killed so many people, and in the end you are apprehended, why should any judge grant you any clemency that he does not have the power to do. Only the President can exercise the power of clemency.

“But, however, the point needs to be made that but for serious intelligence gathering, and a coherent coordination, by the office of the National Security Adviser, some of these achievements wouldn’t have been made.

“The fact that people have renewed these attacks these past two, three weeks, I just asked myself, are they coinciding because it appears as I said somewhere else, as we are approaching elections, maybe there are some people like Turaki (PDP factional national chairman), former minister, who said Trump should come and help him fix PDP. He’s reporting PDP leaders to Donald Trump.”

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