Impeach Buhari is not enough, apply the state police now

OPPOSITION lawmakers recently reaffirmed their determination to remove the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retired), if he fails to tame insecurity in the six weeks of grace they granted him. It's hard to blame the move given its colossal failure, abject ignorance and inability to govern. Beyond that, however, there is an urgent need to decentralize policing and protect lives and property.

If anything, the impeachment decision is late. In seven years and two months, Buhari brought the country to the brink; ruined its economy, impoverished millions, divided the people like never before and presided over a descent into unprecedented insecurity and criminality.

Given their own equally poor performance, lack of credibility and collusion, it is uncertain whether lawmakers will remain intent on removing arguably Nigeria's worst leader. The experience gives little hope of an imminent reprieve from the mismanagement of the clumsy ex-general.

For most Nigerians, however, the great current danger is the state of insecurity sweeping the country. The gyrations of politicians distract from the daily routine, anxiety and distress of citizens in the face of terrorists and criminals of different stripes. Impeachment may bring relief to an incompetent regime, but it may not make it immediately safe.

The PUNCH remains resolute in its call for a fundamental change from the failing central policing system to a decentralized one. The National Assembly, state assemblies and all stakeholders in the Nigerian project should insist on the invocation of the “doctrine of necessity” to amend the 1999 Constitution and allow states to establish and manage their own forces font.

In the meantime, the 36 states should build (where none exist) and strengthen their existing local and regional security teams. This should include arming their operational personnel with sophisticated weaponry to counter the war armories of the thousands of terrorists and criminals who are spreading death and carnage across the country. The time to act and save the union is running out. Some experts fear an imminent takeover of some northern states by terrorists/bandits.

Aggrieved lawmakers walked out of a July 27 plenary session after Senate President Ahmad Lawan rejected a motion on insecurity and Buhari's impeachment. Significantly, the decision crossed party lines, although the slashing of ruling party members has since faded. But beyond the impassioned posturing, the ninth NASS can salvage its dismal record by swiftly making the constitutional amendments needed to legislate state policing, provide legal support for regional and state security services to obtain licenses for assault rifles and maintain strict oversight over security agencies and their funding.

Buhari's impeachment is long overdue. His tenure was so utterly disastrous that even the notoriously lying ninth NASS, with its rubber leadership, is now considering him. But to show its laxity, NASS immediately went on a six-week hiatus after the impeachment threat. With three successive attacks by bandits in the Federal Capital Territory, two being ambushes by the notorious Nigerian Army Guards Brigade and one on the Kuje Medium Correctional Center where 849 inmates were released, a serious parliament would went into emergency mode and would have stayed in Abuja to get out of the crisis.

The crisis is enormous. Terrorists freed 69 Boko Haram commanders in Kuje; they attacked troops on the Bwari-Kubwa road, in Abuja, killing a captain, a lieutenant and six soldiers, and wounding many others. They also attacked a checkpoint at Zuma Rock. The government immediately closed the FCT schools and fear spread in the capital.

Data provided by Beacon Consulting showed that as many as 7,222 people were killed and 3,823 others abducted in 2,840 criminal attacks between January and July this year. Worryingly, in the 18 months to July, Sunday PUNCH reported, 16 military bases across the country were attacked by terrorists, while an estimated 800 soldiers were killed.< /p>

Agriculture, travel, economic and social services have been disrupted in many areas. In Kaduna, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger and Adamawa, among others, Islamic terrorists raised jihadist flags in some local government areas, overthrowing state control, while bandits and militias Fulani are settled in the forests across the country. They are all heavily armed and attack farms, highways and communities. They found a multi-billion naira business in kidnapping for ransom...