Okey Maduforo Awka 
•‘This is not Nigeria we fought for at independence’
Elder statesman and First Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazurike Amaechi has expressed fears over the worsening insecurity across the country and lamented that Nigerians are at the mercy of criminals in the country and warned that the security operatives should be alive to their responsibility.
Amaechi, who made this known in an interview with Sunday Telegraph, also lamented that the Federal Government is handling security problems with kid’s gloves, a situation which according to him has led to loss of lives and property.
He said: “Sometimes, one wonders what the Federal Government is doing about banditry and other forms of brigandage, especially in the North and South East. “A situation where under the nose of security operatives, human lives are wasted and there is no rapid response to criminality in this country.
“You will see policemen at a check point and once it is 9: 00 pm they will all disappear and that is when the bandits take over and whatever distress call you make nobody will answer you.
“When this issue of insecurity started in the North, the blame was on the Almajirai and those at the helm of affairs felt that it can be contained but now it has gotten out of hand, their traditional rulers are shouting.”
It would be recalled that the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, recently in Abuja, condemned the bandits’ incessant killings in the Northern part of the country.
According to the monarch, bandits now went into houses to kidnap people. He said both the Nigerian and state governments must wake up to their responsibilities of protecting the lives and property of Nigerians. He said: “How much an onion costs in Nigeria today is an insight into the current economic hardship in the country.
“We do not lack recommendations and solutions to our problems. What we lack is the sense of purpose.” Amaechi continued: “The Federal Government should know that its first line charge is the protection of lives and property and to protect our territorial integrity which they have failed to discharge.
“What we see is politicians having about five police men in their convoys protecting one Nigerian while the rest of us are left at the mercy of the criminals.”
Amaechi regretted that it is not the Nigeria himself and other nationalists had in mind during the fight for the country’s independence, charging President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign the security system.
“President Muhammadu Buhari should look at the security arrangements and put in place a workable arrangement that would be result oriented to save the lives of Nigerians,” he added.
