A former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, has hailed South-West governors for embarking on a regional security network to protect the zone.
He said that the present security architecture in the country was faulty, saying a centralised police could no longer adequately tackle the security challenges facing Nigeria.
Akinrinade, who spoke with Guardian, blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for sticking with the present security chiefs while Nigerians continued to get killed daily without respite in sight.
Commending the governors for launching Amotekun, the retired general said, “It is a bit difficult to fault the governors for setting up Operation Amotekun.
“All I know is that things got to a head and became unbearable, and so at some point the governors had to do something.
Read Also: PDP hit by N6bn fraud allegation
“When you are boxed to a corner, you have to find an innovative way of doing things. And I don’t think the South-West governors and even others in other geo-political zones ought to have been pushed to that kind of level if the Federal Government was aware, and bent on doing its job, knowing that security is the first role in any nation or country. There is no way you will police a place like the so-called Federation of Nigeria using one Inspector General of Police (IGP).
“There is need to breakdown the current security architecture. We should all agree that the present architecture does not work and we should now breakdown the police by having the federal police, which should have its own remit and responsibilities, then the state should have their own police, which will be responsible for them, instead of calling it all sorts of names as if we are quarrelling among ourselves.”
According to Akinrinade, “The police is not the responsibility of the governors because it is a federal police. We must have known that something is basically wrong with the security architecture.”
He said that the present constitution that placed control of the police in the hands of the Federal Government was “stupid” and “inhuman”.
The former Chief of Army Staff said, “There may be a lot of things that are not clear to me, whether the constitution precludes you from defending yourself, or looking after your own security, and that of your people. But I think it is only a stupid constitution, and the one that is inhuman that will prevent anyone from looking after his security, and welfare of the people around him.
“The Constitution did not create governors but administrators. A governor must be able to make laws through his parliament and also enforce those laws using the police force, but our governors can’t even, though they are called chief security officers of the states. Where is the instrument for fostering that security because the police is not under their control.”
Read Also: 2023 presidency: Yobe governor speaks on el-Rufai, Tinubu’s ambition