×

Local Governments Failed To Check Insurgency In Nigeria, Says Ex-Army Spokesman

  Advertisement Retired Brigadier General Sani Usman has said that the local governments didn’t do enough to checkmate the threats of insurgency and other security … Continue reading Local Governments Failed To Check Insurgency In Nigeria, Says Ex-Army Spokesman


Photo of Brigadier General Usman

 

Retired Brigadier General Sani Usman has said that the local governments didn’t do enough to checkmate the threats of insurgency and other security concerns in the county 

Brig. Gen. Usman made this known on Channels TV flagship programme Sunrise Daily on Thursday, where he stated that the Federal and state governments have shouldered the responsibilities of securing lives and properties for years.

Insecurity has been a major issue in Nigeria with the rise of the terror groups Boko Haram/ISWAP. as well as splinter cells of bandits across major parts of the Northeast. The former government under President Goodluck Jonathan recorded the kidnap of the Chibok girls in 2014, while the present President Buhari-led administration saw attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna bound train as well as the Kuje prisons respectively.

A concerned Usman remarked that proactive measures were not taken to push back the threats of insurgency which allowed it to become a regional problem.

“I made reference to the issue of good governance, you know the bulk of the problems we have are now pushed to just two tiers of government the federal and state government and what happened to the local government system,” he said.

“A bulk of all these problems emanated from the rural areas and they were allowed to escalate to the extent that they had become not just a national issue but in fact a regional issue because they have their tentacles across the Nigerian borders”

Outside Parties Involved

The ex-Army spokesperson also claimed that these growing insecurity situations were courtesy of  many financiers and private individuals not resident in Nigeria,

It should be recalled that the Minister of Information spoke in February during a press conference where he revealed the government had uncovered 96 financiers of Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) between 2020 and 2021.

“It will interest you to know that they are so many people involved not just in this country in respect of all these insecurity challenges that we are having,” he said.

“So we have to put our hearts together to ensure that every component of Nigerian society is brought on board to ensure we trace even the financial and all those people that are banking either within the country or outside the country and bring them to book.”

Speaking on the release of the 23  hostages of the Kaduna-Abuja train attack, he affirmed that the perpetrator would face the full brunt of the law.

“I can assure you that a lot is being done and those people that perpetuated this act will definitely not go away unpunished despite the fact that there were a series of assurances and what have you because it may interest you to know that this release was a combination of so many efforts of the military and the various components of the security forces. at a certain point, the military had to exercise restraint and what have you it does not in any way hamper the normal operating activities of the military that is ongoing.”