Honourable Lateef Rotimi Abiru is the immediate Chief Whip of the Lagos State House of Assembly. He speaks to BOLA BADMUS on the country’s festering insecurity, among others.
Across the country, we have citizens lamenting over the growing insecurity. Are you not concerned about the situation as well?
Well, thank you very much. The issue of security definitely must concern any well-meaning Nigerian and the way it is, it is actually getting to a very alarming stage. Firstly, it was majorly an issue in the North-West and North-East, but as we speak today, the same elements that have been creating issues in those areas are actually infiltrating the South and it is causing unnecessary tension to the extent that there have been accusations and counter-accusations about the level of involvement of some known people of the northern extraction. We’ve had cases and statements credited to known people. For instance, there were statements credited to Miyetti Allah; there were also statements credited to Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, and the Nigerian Army has come out to caution Sheikh Gumi on some of his utterances. These are utterances that can give bad signals to the external world and it is stretching the elasticity of the South, because most of the atrocities being committed here are ascribed to either Fulani or the herdsmen. And the claim is that some of these bandits are even known to state governments. We’ve seen or heard of a situation where people high up in government have claimed to have gone to negotiate with this set of people and it is indeed of concern. What we hear sometimes is that government is going to negotiate for the release of some people or actually paying some people. It is very sad. Does it mean these bandits, herdsmen that are terrorising are stronger than the Nigerian Army or indeed all the security forces put together? And it is indeed very local now. Just a few days ago, somebody told me that they did kidnap somebody around Imota in Lagos and I also learnt that somebody was actually kidnapped around Itamaga in Ikorodu and it is a very dangerous trend. This is because if indeed these kidnappings do happen and people pay ransom, those that are perpetrating this crime, if they are not apprehended and brought to book, will begin to see it as a thriving business whereby you can just wake up and you carry out an act and in less than one week, you are being paid several millions of naira. And whatever it is, we know that the issue of security is of concern to all, but the bulk of this stops on the table of the leadership of this country.
You are saying the bulk stops on the table of the leadership of this country, but when we are talking about security issue, the army, the police, and others are supposed to be in charge. Again, you said security is the concern of everybody, but are the police allowing everybody to be directly involved from what you have seen so far?
Well, it is most unfortunate, the role of the Nigeria Police is questionable in this circumstance because at times, we hear that even when its agents were offered information as regards some suspected activities in local communities, yes, sometimes, police act on such information, but that after the apprehension of [the suspects], we have heard that police sometimes would later reveal the identities of those that gave some of this information. And the effect of such is two folds. Firstly, they have endangered the lives of those that offered the information and secondly, people with such important information will stay back. And now, if police that are meant to protect the lives and properties of citizenry are indeed the collaborators of criminals, it leaves so much to be desired.
And the sophistication and coordination of the activities of some of these bandits that terrorise are far beyond the power of the police and I think the Federal Government has also realised this. That is why they have been deploying Airforce; the Nigerian Army too has actually been drafted to man some areas. But I want to believe that we have what it takes to police our country. We have the resources, yes. I don’t think running after bandits is the solution to the security challenge that we have. I mean there is what we call intelligence gathering and it is for us to prevent some of these things before they even happened at all. We have well trained personnel in this country, especially the Armed Forces; so where is the intelligence gathering apparatus of Federal Government? I mean now things happen, there are drones that they use to monitor activities. There is satellite and all that, so there is sophistication in technology now.
Do you think some forces are actually bankrolling the bandits to ensure that the country does not progress like the rest of the world?
You see, that’s actually why we put the bulk of all these things on the leadership of the country, because the president of Nigeria is the Commander- in- Chief of all the Armed Forces and if it means we have to rewrite or redesign the security architecture of Nigeria, and I think he has enough gut and enough time to do that. Very recently, after so much hues and cries from Nigerians, the Federal Government actually changed the Service Chiefs and also very recently too, we heard that there were postings within the rank and file too. Maybe, these are all in the ways of redesigning the security architecture, but I can tell you, that these so- called bandits and herdsmen had infiltrated the security network of Nigeria, and that’s the danger of the whole thing. And so you cannot rule out the issue of saboteurs within the system. Corruption is another major factor in there. Year in year out, Nigerian government gives huge budgets to the Ministry of Defence; now I ask, are these allocations judiciously spent? Are they well utilised; are the personnel being motivated?
I remember sometimes ago, I think it was in 2018 or thereabout when about a billion dollars was taken out of the fund meant for state governments, all in support of the security of this country. In fact, the deduction created issues amongst some of the governors. I am not sure if the money was judiciously spent and these are some of the issues, and it has turned to soldiers go soldiers come, barrack stays.
And you know with the way it is going now, it is taking some ethnic dimension and that is dangerous. So now, when it is seemingly looking that the Federal Government cannot defend us, regional, states are beginning to look inwards and they want to start deploying all means possible. And very recently, there were some OPC men that tried to secure a particular area in Oyo State where known criminals were apprehended and handed over to the police, and they (OPC men) were also arrested. And this can be very frustrating. Good enough, people are speaking up about some of these issues, but again, we need to be careful so that we do not ignite issues amongst ethnic nationalities of Nigeria. This is how the civil war started; it was as a result of marginalisation of one part of the country and so we cannot afford to let this issue degenerate into such. This is because in 1966 when the civil war broke out, the experiences for those that were old to witness what happened between that periods and when the war ended, nobody prays to have such situation again in Nigeria today.
Still on the issue of insecurity, what is your take on the call for establishment of state police?
The call is long overdue.
If it is long overdue, are you not thinking of a situation whereby a state can go ahead and establish its own state police without having to wait for approval of any authority from Abuja?
You see, this will result in anarchy, you know because irrespective of how painful issues may look in some states, the issue of insecurity, the issue of arms and ammunition as enshrined in our constitution resides on the Exclusive List, which means it is on the list that can only be deliberated upon at the national level. So if indeed this issue is going to be taken seriously, we need to amend or at least make the issue of arms and ammunition to be on the Concurrent List whereby state governments can also legislate on it, but as long as it remains on the Exclusive List, it becomes a crime for any state governor to support any other security outfit by arming them with arms and ammunition.
With the situation of things now, do you see any hope for Nigeria getting over this security issue?
Well, we cannot but to continue to hope. You know, it is obvious that Mr. President is not doing enough and, of course, we are in a democratic government whereby Nigerians have the opportunity every four years to speak with their votes. I am sure Nigerians at the opportune time will decide on how best to run this course. It’s most unfortunate, moreso I belong to the ruling party. The ruling party occupies the centre, but I can say for free that there is a big problem around security architecture of Nigeria and the Federal Government needs to wake up to its responsibility of securing the lives and properties of Nigerians.
THE Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was the one that said that the problem we are having about these Fulani bandits has to do with the ECOWAS protocols that allow people to move freely across national borders without procuring any paper. As a lawmaker, what do you think should be done to this kind of treaty to make us safer in Nigeria?
The ECOWAS Treaty that allows for free movement of goods and services across borders has not said people should carry arms and ammunition illegally in and out of the borders. It is shameful that Nigeria cannot man its borders; it is very shameful. You know technology has so much advanced that I don’t have to frisk you to know whether you are carrying dangerous weapons or not. What is wrong with us as a people? Why can’t we install scanners at all entry points to the country? There are scanners that can scan vehicles without having to ransack the vehicles. So is it that the scanners are too expensive for us to have or that we cannot have them and man them? Yes, there is free movement of goods and services in ECOWAS countries, I understand and appreciate that, but it doesn’t mean that people coming in and going out cannot be checked to see whether they are coming in lawfully or not. So sometimes such statements are not too pleasant to the ears. They are just mere excuses. For instance, you cannot even travel with a gun not even with a knife in aircraft because there are scanners at the airports, irrespective of the routes they passed to this country. These routes are known and intelligence reports should be able to identify the routes. What is wrong in providing scanners for human and vehicular movement in and out of these entry points? Why can’t we have scanners there? Honestly it is most unfortunate.
Governor Sanwo-Olu will clock two years in office on May 29, 2021. Can you give an assessment of his administration?
Well, I am not sure whether am the right person to be asked the question, because I am part of government. But honesty and objectively, I would give him a very good pass mark in that the outgone year. 2020 was indeed a very challenging year for us as a people, for us as Nigerians and the reason is not far to seek with the issue of COVID-19 pandemic.
No state anticipated COVID-19 pandemic and it has come with a lot of things in Nigeria. There had been times the economy of states had been locked down. There had been times government had to re-prioritise because you can only govern lives and in the case of pandemic to avert a crisis situation. And Lagos State being what it is, densely populated; it must have taken a great toll on the economy of the state.
But despite the challenge, the state government still posted an interesting budget performance in 2020 and we saw quite a number of ideas coming up. For a state to have had close to 80 per cent performance in its revenue profile for 2020, I think it is very commendable.
Sometimes I wonder where government gets money to fund some of these projects. If you look around the world today, Lagos is almost like a construction site, with projects being done here and there. Yes, some of the projects maybe projects initiated during the last administrations, but it would be a colossal loss to the state if the state governor had decided to abandon them because these are projects that were conceived for the improvement of service delivery and for the improvement of lives of Lagosians. Several housing projects would be commissioned this year; several road projects had been done. The issue of traffic is being managed through some of programmes of the state government. And what that means is the deployment of technology by the administration. In the rea of revenue generation, you know people have had to comply without being apprehended. We have seen surveillance cameras, and without being harassed by LASTMA, people are gradually complying.
You know, beyond the COVID-19 challenge, there was also the challenge of the #EndSARS which resulted in the monumental loss due to the damage to government properties around the state, and the state government to a reasonable extent handled the situation very well
Of course, there is still need to do more, but we can only work within the available resources. So with that I give a very good pass mark to the governor and I want to urge him to work harder on some identified areas of challenge; one of which is the issue of road traffic management and the coming rain. Seasonal rainfall is one of the challenges we faced in the past; we must prepare very well for it so that when it begins to rain, we will not experience as much flooding as we experienced in previous years.
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