Prince Tony Momoh, elderstatesman and former Minister of Information, is one of the national leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, he argues that sacking the current Service Chiefs will not solve Nigeria’s insecurity challenges. Excerpts:

The President has agreed to brief the National Assembly on what his administration is doing to address the worsening insecurity challenges in the country. Do you think anything positive will come out of the meeting?

Well, they can invite anybody to explain certain things they want clarification on. But I don’t know how the President can come to them and in front of the cameras; start to explain anything to them, especially on security matters. I don’t know how regular it is for the President to go to one of the two chambers. The president goes to meet the National Assembly, that is the Senate and House of Representatives in joint sitting. He does that more regularly during budget presentations. If you have a situation like what we have on our hands now, which is the issue of security, and it gets to a stage when there should be briefing from the President, it is either the President goes there and brief the lawmakers in joint session without public glare or the leadership of the National Assembly go to the President for briefing, including the heads of security agencies.

One of the focal point of discussion will be the continued stay in office of the Service Chiefs despite repeated calls by the National Assembly that the President should sack them. What is your take on that?

There are certain things in security matters that only the President and a few others know about. Security issues are not marketplace issues or for general public consumption. Look at what is happening now. A lot of people are clamouring for the removal of the Service Chiefs. The Service Chiefs are not there because of referendum; they are not elected. The President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in his wisdom, looks at areas of challenges and then seeks help from those he thinks he can depend on. But the issue is, if he removes the Service Chiefs now, will that put an end to insecurity challenges in the country? Are we going to have less of Boko Haram attacks, banditry, kidnapping and other vices? The truth of the matter is that the security of the land rests solely on the shoulders of the President. How can you be talking of security in the land by changing Service Chiefs and you are not giving the soldiers better equipment to prosecute the war? How can you succeed when you have not increased the number of military personnel on the field? How can you win the war when you have not thoroughly investigated all options that you can get? Do you know that the whole world is fighting us? ISIS West Africa are fighting us. The weapons from Libya are all in Nigeria. Lots of mercenaries are all over here. As you can see, many of the weapons being used by Boko Haram are even more sophisticated than the ones being used by our military. The Tucano aircraft that America said they are selling to us, where are they?


Some Nigerians have argued that there wouldn’t have been need for the summon if the President has been giving Nigerians regular briefings on what his administration is doing through Presidential Media Chat. Do you agree with this?

If you are talking of presidential media chat, how much does the media reach out to the people. Look at the social media. Everybody is a broadcaster in his her own right. It is not that much when you talk of media chat. I’m not saying it is not necessary to have media chat but the fact is, what is it that the President has to say that cannot be said in normal routine ways? If the president comes to do presidential media chat every month, before you know it, a lot of people will say he has nothing new to say. I’m in support of reaching out; there must be effective communication of what government is doing. People must relate to what government and government must also do likewise. I believe in expansive communication outreach.

President Buhari achieved a lot in the area of security when he first came in in 2015. Why do you think insecurity crisis has worsened under his watch

Few days ago, the Minister of Information said they have refused to sell arms to us. I don’t know the details but at the same time, I don’t believe that the Minister was lying when he said so. Many people worldwide are not happy that Nigeria is this big and has a bright future which the whole world will recognise, especially in terms of human development. While other countries are dying, Nigeria and other African countries are blossoming. In fact, many developed countries in the world are crying for young people to come and populate their lands.

We have things that other countries don’t have and many of these countries don’t mean well for Nigeria. Look at the recession we are in now. Also look at the National Assembly. How much did we budget for the police? What is the entire population of the police? How many soldiers have we? So, we should be looking at the architecture in which we populate the army with weapons and trainings before we start talking of whether or not the Service Chiefs should be replaced. If we remove them today, we have not resolved any problem. The President knows where the problem is and this can be known through briefing which I think the President can do when he has a joint meeting with the National Assembly or if the leadership of both chambers go to the President for briefing along with the heads of the security agencies. But the reality is, there is more to it than we think. We are in trouble. Look at the few soldiers we have relative to the population of Nigeria. Few days ago, the Sultan of Sokoto was talking about the presence of AK- 47 in the market places. Bandits go from house to house picking people they like without security officers in sight. How equipped is the police and the army? So, we are really in trouble. Look at Amotekun for instance. Amotekun needs to be organised in the South-West for them to make a statement about security so that people can say the region is secured. We have Amotekun in Ondo state; yet, a first-class traditional ruler was killed. We are not saying Amotekun should be everywhere but their presence should be felt in the region. They shouldn’t be in the urban areas, directing traffic. They should go into the bushes, forests and flush out these bandits. So, we have security challenges but some of these can be addressed at the local level through vigilantes. Security of lives and property should not be left in the hands of the federal government alone. Everybody should be involved, not only soldiers or police. So, it is a more profound issue. It goes beyond just summoning the President to come and start talking with cameras all over the place. That is not the best way to address insecurity challenges.

Do you agree with the position of the federal government that Boko Haram has been technically defeated?

I am not in a position to know the position where Boko Haram is operating and whether they have been technically defeated or not. All I know is that you cannot win a guerilla war. For instance, Boko Haram do not occupy any territory and call the federal government to come and fight them there. Rather, they look at where soft targets are and attack. That is what guerilla war is all about. It is not something you write off. If they say Boko Haram has been technically defeated, it depends on the definition of technically defeated. For instance, they are not army occupying territory and preventing our soldiers from coming there. You can talk of technical defeat in that sense. But if you have people who hide and see areas where you are not present and then strike and run away, that is the tactics of guerilla warfare all over the world. The fact is that the country is not safe and everybody is worried. It is not a political issue, it is a national challenge and everybody should be concerned about it.
https://www.independent.ng/insecurity-the-whole-world-is-at-war-with-nigeria-tony-momoh/

Tell them to do the right thing.

It is the other way round

You mean Nigeria is at war with the whole world

LawLab247:
It is the other way round

bolaayenimo:
You mean Nigeria is at war with the whole world

As strange as it sounds, yes!

Ok

Nigeria is also at war with herself

Nothing person no go hear for dis country.....

Nigeria at war with other countries.......

Other coountries at war with Nigeria......

Because we have what they dont have......

Because they have what we dont have........

Which war? Guess he is trying to downplay the failure his government symbolizes with how the handle the economy and security? These people have no shame @ all.