How are they (Senate members) sure that if President Buhari appoints new service chiefs, they would perform better than the present ones? There are political undertones to the whole thing; you don’t expect service chiefs to be everywhere there is a problem. Their responsibility is to issue instructions and to ensure that they are carried out. Have they sufficient equipment?
Have they been given sufficient incentives? Have they sufficient manpower? These are questions the senate should ask before saying that the service chiefs should be sacked.
You cannot send security personnel to confront insurgents without ensuring that they are well equipped.
Only recently, Buhari asked for $1bn to fund the fight against Boko Haram, but the senators opposed it.
Will they use their hands to fight the insurgents? They should give the President all the necessary requirements, including money to recruit more personnel.
The current situation does not call for unnecessary bottlenecks; it calls for cooperation between the executive and the legislature. They should work together to provide the security agencies with what they require to do their job and provide security for the people. • Abubakar Tsav (Commissioner of Police, retd.)
I think it will be nice to have a different set of individuals to begin to inject new ideas to address the current security challenges in the country because there is no reason why we should keep those who are there and are not bringing in new innovations on board in terms of how they respond to security challenges.
Their tenure has expired and it is only natural that the government bring on board those who can bring fresh ideas into the entire security architecture. The Senate is very correct. Sometimes we try to politicise issues but I think it is time for us to respond to issues very objectively. President Buhari has also not been able to reshuffle his cabinet despite the lacklustre performance of most of them.
So it is time for him to know that the lives of Nigerians are more important than any personal interest he may have in any individual. Whether he has interests in any of the service chiefs or not, it does not in any way justify the current mayhem.
I think they probably have a succession plan but I know they have a selection process which also is something that we need to critically look at because it must be based on merit. The current insecurity/herdsmen attacks are not good.
It might be an internal security issue but the police cannot effectively take care of the situation like this. The truth is also that the President has the constitutional mandate to deploy military in a situation like this. We are not entirely putting the blame on the military because they are also currently over-stretched.
It is important for leaders within the Nigerian Armed Forces to also get those who have that capacity to respond to internal security challenges because we cannot continue to manage the wanton loss of lives that we wake up to hear almost on a daily basis. •Mr. Salaudeen Hashim (Secretary, National Peace and Security Forum)
Well, first of all, the Senate was not consulted when the service chiefs were appointed. And their appointments are not subject to Senate or National Assembly’s confirmation.
But as concerned Nigerians elected by the people, the Senate also have the right to advise the President that in view of the escalating insecurity threats and crises, and in their own assessment, the service chiefs have not lived up to expectations.
The Senate therefore has a right in that regard. They have a right to call for the sacking of the security chiefs. But the person who appointed them is the only person who can remove them from office. But if he feels that they are doing well, and decides to leave them, possibly he has some information that we don’t have.
It is up to him if he is retaining them for some reasons. Nigerians too have the choice to assess this administration at the end of their tenure to say; well, we are retuning this government because it has done well or we don’t want this government because it has not done well.
I hope you get my drift? The issue is that the Senate has a right to advise the President and it is the right of the President to also say I am not listening to you. But at the end of the day, Nigerians will have the right to say: you have done well or you have not done well. So it is a cycle of people using their rights. •Mike Ejiofor (A former director, Department of State Services)
I would say that the Senate’s call for the sacking of service chiefs is an attempt to play the role of a saint in a predicament where it ought to proffer solutions. It should rather assist the security chiefs in tackling insecurity. You cannot attempt to be patriotic and yet your actions undermine the oneness of the people of Nigeria.
The call is needless. It is not bad suggesting that there should be a change in the leadership of our security system in Nigeria but it is totally wrong calling for immediate sacking of the leadership. It means there is more to what is playing out. It shows the call did not emanate from patriotic considerations.
I am not saying that the security leadership of this country as of now has not erred in one way or the other. I am saying that instead of removing leaders that see to the affairs of security issues, why can’t the Senate offer support in tackling Nigeria’s security challenges?
Let the Senate suggest to the Presidency and the security chiefs practical solutions to security problems in the country. Nigeria’s security challenges have been there for some time and the removal of security heads before has not salvaged the situation. The Senate should introduce a working mechanism through the Senate Committee on Security. The government should not shy away from seeking foreign assistance to deal with the security issues at hand. It is unfortunate that the government could watch criminality go to the level that we have it today.
We need to take decisive steps which may not include sacking of service chiefs. So many chiefs have been sacked before now and it never changed the fact that our security system is ineffective to a certain extent. • Habeeb Whyte (Lawyer)
THE call for the sacking of security chiefs is highly justified in view of the level of insecurity in the country. If truth be told, I think the call is a welcome development because the level of insecurity in the country is alarming and this is quite unfortunate. But the President is the chief security officer of the entire nation.
I think I will look at the President as the problem. Actually, a person like the Inspector-General of Police ought to have been sacked a long time ago. He (IGP) has not performed creditably. He is the IG and he is supposed to be in charge of security of lives and property.
The IG, the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff will always watch the body language of Mr. President; that is the tradition in every regime.
Take a look at (former President) Jonathan; he was sleeping before and when he eventually woke up, the service chiefs woke up with him.
The fact is that we should look at the system. It is the body language that will determine what the security chiefs will do. The body language so far is that well, (Benue people should) be lenient with them (herdsmen).
He (Buhari) said the Benue people should see herdsmen as their brothers and that they should learn to live together. When the number one citizen says this, what do you expect the IGP to do? What do you expect the Chief of Army Staff to do? They (security chiefs) have observed the body language of the President. I may be wrong, but that is my own view. • Olusegun Bamgbose (Lawyer)
- Compiled by: Chukwudi Akasike, Samuel Awoyinfa, Success Nwogu, Adelani Adepegba and Olaleye Aluko
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