President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has backed the establishment of regional security outfits.
In an article he entitled ‘Insecurity: What Buhari has done, and is doing, Adesina pointed out that national security is a collective responsibility.
The presidential aide said the army, police and the other forces cannot do it alone, adding that the people must be involved in securing their communities and country, but within the bounds of the law.
Adesina said, “If there was efficiency, why is there a proliferation of regional security outfits; Amotekun in the South-West, Shege-Ka-Fasa in the North, and with other parts of the country warming up to set up their own?
“Good question. Security is a collective responsibility. It is a collaboration between the government and the people, and those who heap all the blame on government, for political capital, are missing the point. The people must be involved in securing their communities and country but within the bounds of the law.”
He went on to highlight that the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), established by Nigeria and her neighbours to combat insurgency, got a fillip as soon as President Buhari got to office.
“With headquarters in N’djamena, Chad, it became a potent fighting force, under the inspiration of Buhari. The contribution to routing of the insurgents is unquantifiable,” Adesina added.
He said without the many military operations launched in different parts of the country the land may have been impossible to live in.
According to Adesina military operations such as the Lafiya Dole has recorded remarkable successes against Boko Haram with roads and schools abandoned for many years reopened.
He also pointed out that the Operation Safe Corridor has reformed thousands of repentant insurgents.
He recalled that President Buhari vowed to be harder on bandits, adding that recently special forces of the police raided the Ansaru terror group in Kaduna, killing about 250 terrorists.
The presidential adviser said that actions of the government against the insurgents, bandits and kidnappers are visible to all.
He noted that there was a time the Abuja-Kaduna road was crawling with abductors and kidnappers but insisted that not anymore.
He claimed that relative sanity has been restored while kidnappers are being arrested and made to face the law.
