A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, on Wednesday, raised concerns about the current security challenges in the nation, saying it was more pressing than the 2023 elections.
He warned that the government “must not concentrate only on permutations on the 2023 elections to the detriment of urgent national security concerns.”
Olawepo-Hashim, who is a former presidential candidate of Peoples Trust in the 2019 elections, gave the warning in a statement titled, ‘National security concerns more pressing than 2023 elections’, obtained by journalists in Abuja.
He said, “We must have a nation first before elections, and our people must be alive and safe first to be able to vote. The barbarians are at the gate of the capital, our Republic is under threat, our tested ways of life pluralism, democracy, state secularism, are about to be imperiled. The clock is ticking, time is running out, the forces of evil are set to take the capital.
“Despite the offensive of the military to clean up the bushes in the capital, the areas surrounding the capital are still in the hands of the enemy and they retain the capacity, flexibility and initiative to launch attacks at any place and time of their choice.
“We should never surrender through in-action, limited action or wrong and slow response to the urgent threat confronting our father land, our response must be deep, broad and all encompassing.”
Olawepo-Hashim cited a report by a security risk management and intelligence consulting company, Beacon Consulting, indicating that banditry and terrorist attacks had escalated across Nigeria, leading to the death of 7,222 persons and abduction of 3,823 others in the past seven months.
According to him, a breakdown in terms of geopolitical zones revealed that the North-East recorded 777 incidents, in which 2,052 individuals were killed and 344 kidnapped.
Also, in the North-West, 519 incidents occurred, leading to the death of 2,229 individuals, while 1,989 were abducted. No fewer than 494 incidents were witnessed in the North-Central, of which 1,748 residents lost their lives, and 950 were kidnapped.
“In the past two years, we have spoken on the nation’s security challenges and offered concrete suggestions on how to confront them, but all suggestions have been ignored. Now is the time for patriots and statesmen and friends of Nigeria to rally and defend the ideals of our Republic, the ideals of peace and the ideals of modernity and civilisation,” he said.
Olawepo-Hashim had listed a six point agenda as a pathway to security and peace in the country, some of which include: the establishment of a Defence Co-operation Agreement with a friendly nation to halt the enemy’s advance as well as creating the framework for states and local governments to have their own police.
He maintained that for the sacrifices and efforts of the nation’s gallant soldiers not to be in vain, “it is time for the nation to construct a new defence and security architecture to permanently destroy the seed of terror and uproot banditry/kidnapping across the country.”
According to him, with all manners of armed groups within two-hour drive to Abuja, (the nation’s seat of power), from Niger and Kaduna, the government should not downplay the alarm raised by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State on the growing number of the Islamic State in West Africa Province fighters in the country.
Olawepo-Hashim equally said that if between 2015 and now, the government had allocated approximately N5.081 trillion for defence, including the appropriation of N4.669 trillion to the Federal Ministry of Defence from 2016 to date and $1 billion for the purchase of military equipment, the template on the fight on terror required political responses that must tackle the underlining causes of the threats.
He said, “Presently, it is an understatement to say we are at a turning point in our history when terrorist forces have technically surrounded our nation’s capital highlighting the severity of our national security challenge.”
