South South Governors Should Embrace Regional Security Outfit- Former SSG, Delta State
By Vincent Anikwushe, Asaba
Following the alarming rate of insecurity in the country, the Iyase (Traditional Prime Minister) of Asaba, Obi Patrick Onyeobi, has said that South South Governors have no choice than to, as a matter of urgency and necessity, set up a regional security outfit to address security challenges in the region.
Onyeobi, who was also the former Head of Service/Secretary to the defunct Bendel State Government (SSG), stated this is an exclusive interview with Crystal Express in Asaba, the Delta State Capital.
The highly revered community leader noted that the primary responsibility of government is to provide security and peace to the governed, but lamented the inability of the Federal Government to adequately provide security to lives and property of the citizenry.
The octogenarian commended the South West Governors as trail blazers for establishing a security outfit (Amotekun) in the region and called on the Governors of other regions or zones in the country to follow suit.
RELATED: Regional Security: South South Governors Lack Direction-Former Ministerhttps://crystalexpressng.org/regional-security-south-south-governors-lacking-direction-former-minister/
“The primary responsibility of Government is to provide security and peace to the governed otherwise it does not justify its existence. It is true that according to the constitution, the issue of security is the responsibility of the Federal Government but if people fear for their general peace and security in their environment, I think they have the right to take measures to ensure that they protect themselves and come to no harm,” he inferred,
He said that Nigeria being a complex country, he advised strongly that the Governors should ensure that the security outfit is backed up by law and that the people selected to work in the system should be responsible and of impeccable character who will not do more harm than good, adding that when the system starts to malfunction, people will question the existence of the regional security outfits.
His words, “Every community has the right and responsibility to ensure security of lives and property, so that people can live in peace because without peace there can be no development. Most of the problems we have is that there are good intentions but in trying to execute these good intentions, justice is usually not done in the sense that they don’t put the right people there”.
While quoting a Greek Philosopher, Plato, who defined justice as “Giving each man his due”, he acknowledged the fact that security situation in the country is not as good as one would have expected with regards to kidnappings, herdsmen menace, killings, insurgency, armed robbery, banditry, massacre and attacks on innocent people across the country on a daily basis by hoodlums. He, therefore, posited that setting up regional security outfits was a welcome development as Federal Government has failed to live up to expectations in terms of security of lives and property of the citizens.
