Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has called on the All Progressives Congress (APC)- led Federal Government to stop politicising national security.
The governor said the inability of President Muhamnadu Buhari to personally take charge of the nation’s security and engage critical stakeholders on national security have made some APC leaders to politicise security.
The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Francis Ottah Agbo, accused some APC chieftains of taking advantage of the dysfunctional federal structure and the imperfect Nigerian structure to hijack the security architecture to torment innocent citizens for their selfish ends and by so doing , causing national insecurity.
The governor said the wind of insecurity blowing across the nation and particularly the upsurge in herdsmen/farmers clashes are not unconnected to the politicisation of security by the Federal Government.
He, therefore, called on Buhari to personally handle security matters as well as engage governors with a view to knowing their specific challenges in various states.
Dickson also called on the President to call his party leaders, especially those in Bayelsa State to order to desist from sponsoring insecurity in the state.
He said some APC leaders in the South-South state are using the name of the President to compromise security by intimidating security agencies, stockpiling arms and ammunition, killing and ransacking communities at will.
The governor said he had formally reported the matter to the President and relevant authorities but regretted that instead of bringing the perpetrators to book, the Federal Government, to his utmost chagrin, not only shielded the criminals from prosecution but provided them with security.
The governor said: “These APC leaders exploit the fact that Mr President is not personally involved in the handling of national security to breach national peace and security . They know that he is not in charge of the critical issues of national security because he is not personally handling them the way he should. So, they take advantage of the President’s attitude and the dysfunctional Nigerian state to intimidate and blackmail security agencies for their selfish interest and in the process, endanger the safety of lives and property of Nigerians. These APC leaders use the name of the President to sponsor criminals to unleash savage violence on innocent citizens. Their aim is to cause panic and force them to align with them. A case in point is in Bayelsa State where some APC leaders hide under the protection of the Federal Government to stockpile arms and ammunition to maim and kill innocent citizens just to instill fear in them.
“I have personally reported this to Mr. President and to the best of my knowledge, there has not been any decisive action from him or the Federal Government. Instead of prosecuting these criminals, the Federal Government has beefed up security around them. The politicisation of national security must stop for there can be no country without security”.
The governor also condemned the recent killings across the country and warned that the country ceases to have a future if the Federal Government fails to urgently unite Nigerians to avert the nationwide senseless killings, stressing that the country is more than ever before too divided and unstable under the APC- led Federal Government.
