Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate his commitment to fight the war against insurgency and insecurity.
This is as he also reiterated the call for state police to boost internal security.
Wike, who made the charge during an interview of Channels Television Tuesday night, declared that no government could provide good governance if it failed to protect life and property.
“The issue of security is paramount in governance and when a government cannot protect life and property, then that government has failed. There are no two ways about it. There is no propaganda that can solve the problem,” he said.
Wike noted that one of the reasons insurgency, banditry, cultism and other heinous crimes besetting Nigeria had continued to fester was because the federal government had failed to admit lacking the capacity to tackle the security challenges bedeviling the country.
“The president of the country has not shown enough strength to say I am willing to fight this insurgency; I am willing to fight insecurity problem in this country. As a leader, when people see you are willing to do something, I can tell you, you will see that people will come out and give their best.”
The governor said there was nothing wrong with the federal government admitting it had obviously failed in the protection of lives and property and that it needed support and ideas to tackle the prevailing insecurity across the country.
He said it was sad to hear the Governor of Niger State, who is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), lamenting how the federal government nonchalance to the security challenge in his state paved way for Boko Haram to overrun over 50 communities.
The Rivers State governor described as pathetic, incessant cases of kidnapping, banditry and murder of innocent civilians and soldiers.
According to him, “I think the federal government is not interested in the protection of lives and property of Nigerians.”
He said there would be nothing wrong if President Buhari led federal government should seek help from countries like the United States of America, China, United Kingdom and others that have faced and solved similar security challenges.
“If you are incapacitated, there is nothing wrong asking for help from people who have the capacity, who have what it takes to solve such problem. You don’t need to shy away because Nigeria is an independent sovereign country and therefore as a president of a country, you don’t need to seek help from outside.”
The governor called for procurement of requisite equipment that would enable the military and other security agencies to effectively tackle insecurity in the country.
“If you listen to the security men they will tell you they lack equipment, they lack what it takes to fight terrorists or insurgents. They will tell you that, look, we don’t have the equipment.”
Wike maintained that the prevailing insecurity across the country was a pointer to the salient fact that the country urgently required state police to tackle terrorism.
Wike also stated that the reason why the APC led government did not want the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act and for the president to assent to it, was because they were not prepared to ensure a free, fair and credible election in 2023.
He declared that with the prevailing disenchantment in Nigeria over the “mal-administration that has characterised the APC rule,” it is obvious to the party that Nigerians would overwhelmingly vote against them, hence, they are frustrating any electoral reform that would make the 2023 polls credible.
Commenting on the petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Wike, said the petition which he opposed should never be misconstrued for crisis in the PDP.
