Warri-based Ikimi, reacting to Obasanjo’s letter in a statement made available to Tribune Online in Warri, Delta State, said that although the contents of the open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari were germane, but contended that the former president helped to nurture the current fragile state of the nation going by his antecedents.
Ikimi, who’s the executive director of the Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP), however, proposed the decentralisation of the country’s internal security apparatus along the six geo-political regions of South-West, South-East, South-South, North-West, North-East and North-Central with each headed by an Inspector General of Police.
According to him, this proposal, if adopted, could make the citizenry more secure and safe in view of the current insecurity.
“Our attention has been drawn to the recent letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Muhammadu Buhari about the state of things in Nigeria approaching tipping points.
“We state that while we accept the contents of the said letter as the true position of the state of affairs in Nigeria, we make bold to state that the former President is amongst those Nigerians that laid the foundational blocks on which the present state of our nation’s acrimony and insecurity is built.
“Nigeria, no doubt, is approaching tipping points, but former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as a former coup plotter and a former Chief of Staff, a former Head of State and a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was amongst those who laid the foundation of the present state of acrimony and insecurity in Nigeria.
“Nigeria, during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime, witnessed the formation of deadly groups like Boko Haram and other regional armed groups like the Odua People’s Congress (OPC) in the South West and the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) in the South South amongst others.
“Nothing was done by his administration to contain the situation then, which over the years have grown into a monster and has left the present Federal Government with hands akimbo helpless and the entire country bewildered,” he posited.
He, therefore, argued that “for the umpteenth time, CENTREP renews her call for the total decentralization of our internal security apparatus along the six geo political Regions of South-West, South-East, South-South, North-West, North-East and North-Central respectively with each of these Regions headed by a Regional Inspector General of Police and same funded according to the security needs of each geo political Region as a stop gap arrangement in case the idea of restructuring and de-amalgamation of our country is not amendable at the moment.
“Centrep believes that the citizens of this country would be more secured, united and stronger if our nation’s internal security apparatus is decentralized, funded and her personnel trained to meet the security needs of each geo political Region. We rest our case.”