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| Pres Muhammadu Buhari |
My
Dear President,
I
write to you with a heavy heart, particularly on the issue of the Chibok Girls,
because I am confident that you are genuinely interested in their safe return;
not only because of the political bonus but for humanity reasons.
Unfortunately,
available security research and precedents from around the world on handling of
profile abduction cases do not align with the recent methodology employed by
Nigeria’s security infrastructure, as the best approach to achieving the type
of outcome you are hoping for......
As a Counter Terrorism Analyst, I strongly believe that this is
the appropriate time to revisit the security strategy deployed by the Federal Government
on this matter, and the need to honestly set up a special task-force to handle
the issues relating to the Chibok Girls. Nigeria Armed Forces are currently
overwhelmed with all their security operations in the North-east, South-south
and South-east, thus, it is advisable to give the Inspector General of Police a
lead on the Chibok Girls issue, which is constitutional and allow the military
to attach an elite unit to work with them.
Your
Excellency, you won Nigeria’s general election to become the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria by deploying a different strategy, and not doing
things the normal way; I am appealing to your office to use the same initiative
and move away from the traditional security method adopted in the past. I am
pleased that you acknowledged – when I once met with you over a year ago – that
there are immense security competence embedded in Nigerians residing abroad who
have worked within different security establishments. But it is unfortunate
that Nigeria’s security infrastructure have not tapped into these skill-set for
positive outcomes.
It
is embarrassing that time and time again information given to the military are
not being tilized effectively. From Sunday Adoba to other individuals declared
wanted by the military; it is clear that there is a communication problem and
security agencies need to improve their intelligence gathering structure.
Nigeria
Armed Forces, which remains a professional military outfit of great
accomplishment, are unfortunately, working outside their security competence.
And the more they work outside their traditional area of expertise, the longer
they will be embarrassed by failure to deliver.
It
is important to highlight that almost all military formations around the world
ensure that they work within their area of core competence, which is mainly
territorial protection. Therefore, to expect Nigeria Armed Forces to be
handling abduction cases is not only absurd but unreasonable. To date, Nigeria
Police Force has continued to operate a ‘fire-fighting strategy’ to their
operational activities rather than being proactive in their policing by
consent, which is responsible for the decline in community confidence and
reassurance in safety and security in Nigeria.
Even with the Chibok Girls’
abduction and serious security challenges confronting our educational
institutions; there is still no School Security Strategy, and no effort to
assign a designated commissioner of police to help prevent recurrence of
abduction in many Nigerian schools.
Your
Excellency, if the approach adopted in finding the Chibok Girls is not changed;
the recovery of the girls would be unsuccessful. Maybe, in another year, we
will ‘accidentally’ find one or two girls somewhere within the North-east.
I
will strongly recommend that you inject new Nigerian professionals with the
right skill-set in this project so that we can get the right outcome. Let a
selected few go through all the Presidential Report on the Chibok Girls, and
allow the special task-force to work on solutions, supported by the military
elite groups.
Finally,
the Civilian JTF is a time-bomb waiting to become a big problem. There’s need
to setup a Presidential Committee now to examine post-welfare package for these
unsung heroes of North-east Nigeria.
God
Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Yours
Sincerely,
Temitope
Olodo Esq
Chair,
Nigeria Diaspora Security Forum.
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