Retired Captain Aliyu Umar has called on the federal government to prepare an anti-terrorism agency which will take over from the military when the State of Emergency is over in the three Northern States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Speaking about the security situation in the country as well as President Goodluck Jonathan’s call for a 6 month extension of the State of Emergency, on Sunrise Daily, Captain Umar said it would not be surprising if there are “some contrary views from the National Assembly.”
The reason, he said, is because “a state of emergency is not a card we play every day. It’s actually the Commander in Chief’s absolute reserve, so we will not trivialise it.”
Although the three affected states “are in very dire situations,” there have been considerable improvements as the Army has been able to stabilize the situation and are now managing it, he said.
“If we extend the State of Emergency, we are actually extending the counter terrorist strategy of normalizing things.”
He opined that “if Mr. President decides to seek an extension, we should be looking at an extension to standing-down the troops” which will herald “a graduation from counter-terrorism to anti-terrorism.”
He stated that “beyond a state of emergency, what next? he asked. “We must be building that capability now that the State of Emergency is running.”
He advised that an anti-terrorism agency should be prepared to take over from the military as an ‘anti-terrorism approach’ is civil in nature.
“Anti-terrorism is more sociological. It’s more democratic. It’s about the root causes of terrorism and addressing them.”
It’s about creating awareness, lobbying our legislators to make legislations that would favour the prevention of those things that bring about violence. Prosecuting terrorists promptly and making people understand that terrorism doesn’t pay.
