2023: Security agencies need to step up their game – Sir Ejiofor

Sir Mike Ejiofor, a former state director of the Department of State Services (DSS), is the Chairman/CEO Safety Security Consultant LTD. In this interview with CHIZOBA OGBECHE he speaks on the security situation in the country and proffers solutions.

What is your take on the Kuje prison attack?

Attack is quite disheartening and embarrassing to the entire country. It is a national embarrassment.

I think what we should be doing now is to prevent a future reoccurrence not just sitting down and folding our hands. We can mobilise our people, volunteer information to the security agencies, let the people be security conscious of their environment.

As long as these people are out there you don’t know when they will strike again and from records available, intelligence available, we are approaching elections and these terrorists don’t believe in democracy so they will want to do anything to thwart the process.

I am not sounding pessimistic or alarming but I believe that our security agencies should step up their game to check the likely upsurge.

So, if you see people with strange faces you should be able to report to security agencies.

People should also, in their own small groups, perhaps estates, organise themselves to look at their security.

I was with someone on TV and he disagreed with me that security is not everybody’s business because there are people that paid to provide security. My response to him was that he should sit down and fold his hands and see whether he will be safe. We are going through perilous times and we cannot sit down and fold our hands.

We should prioritise our security. We should re-strategise. People are calling for change of leadership but I don’t see that as a solution because you are not going to bring foreigners or outsiders to man these agencies.

If we continue to operate in the environment, the same circumstance we will continue to be having problem. So the government should take security very seriously.

Do you think there was sufficient intelligence to prevent the attack?

Of course, there was several intelligence; our problem in Nigeria is not the dearth of intelligence. We have abundance intelligence and Nigerians agree that there is sufficient intelligence. The problem and question people are asking is: how were we not able to prevent this?

I can tell you without looking back that much as I sympathise with the action agencies they don’t have the capacity to deal with the situation and it’s quite unfortunate.

It is not only in security sub-sector but people are worried because security is the primary purpose of government as enshrined in our constitution

So if you don’t have security nobody is safe, there will be no development and that is why people are worried.

If you go to the agric sector people are providing water for themselves; people are providing generators in terms of electricity; so why can’t we provide security for ourselves until things improve.

Don’t forget that there is also economic down turn all over the world, so you don’t expect to rely on government solely to provide security for everybody even though it’s their primary responsibility.

We should complement government efforts

By volunteering information, by looking at means of assisting the agencies and its Nigerians too who are manning the security sub sector and you can know the number of causalities that the security agencies have suffered.

Look at what happened in Shiroro? These people who are losing their lives are Nigerians. The security agencies need our support to grow.

You mentioned Shiroro, there was also an attack on the president’s convoy. What is the implication?

The implication is that the terrorists tasting waters. The fact remains that these people are very daring. They want to bring government to disrepute and make sure that people loss confidence in government.

So, if they could go ahead and attack the president’s convoy, even if they knew he wasn’t there, because there was no way the president would have been there and they would try it;

so, they tried as a sign to say well we are capable of doing this. It was an ambush, element of surprise is part of terrorism.

Besides actionable intelligence that could have prevented the recent attacks, do you think there could have compromise or sabotage?

Of course there are a lot of compromises within the security agencies. I give you instance of my own experience. When I was kidnapped in 2017 four of the kidnappers were serving soldiers, you understand and people ask how did you know? I interacted with them. You have heard of Wadume case? Examples abound of compromises and I have suggested that the security agencies, especially the police and army, must look inward to fish out the bad eggs otherwise all the exercises the security agencies are doing would be in futility because it is the rat that is in the house that will tell the rat outside that there is fish in the house. So, as you are planning your own they are leaking the strategies. Yes, there are compromises no doubt but they must be fished out.

What is your take on claims of foreign involvement in these attacks?

We all know it started from Boko Haram, and they were operating in the North-east until we started hearing of herdsmen and bandits operating in the North-west.

Don’t forget that Boko Haram sometime back affiliated with ISIS, they said they had pledged allegiance to ISIS. So, they have the international dimension.

There is also the ISWAP operating in the West African sub-region. At a point some of them are converging, there is a convergence between Boko Haram and the bandits in the North-west.

I am a lawyer and I don’t believe in hear say, I talk on what I know. So, whether they are Nigerians or not there is no way foreign terrorists can operate in Nigeria without the corroboration of the local terrorists. So, there is a synergy, there is a bridge between the two groups who operate indiscriminately.

So, whether they are foreigners of Nigerians the primary purpose is for security agencies to stop them. No Nigerian is interested to know whether they are foreigners or they are locals, what they are interested in to maintain peace and security.

Who gives order for action to be taken on intelligence provided?

Well, I don’t want to go deep but in intelligence circle there we have four stages, we have the direction, collection, processing and dissemination but at our own level of inter agency relationship if the DSS offers intelligence to a particular agency, let’s take for example the Nigeria Correctional Service, the DSS goes ahead to back it up with implementation strategies.

When you recommend such implementation strategies like strengthening the walls, providing cameras in the facility, educating the staff on what to do but the facility does not have the finance to implement all these things who do you blame?

That is why I said they don’t have the capacity to implement these strategies and it is that obvious. The funds are not sufficient and will never be sufficient.

You see, budgets are sent to the National Assembly (NASS) for appropriation and at NASS level they are to sit and decide on what to do but the members instead of carrying out their oversight function will be looking for contracts, will be looking for projects, what they call constituency projects and will not allow the agencies to do the right thing.

It is not peculiar to security agencies, it is all over. They are enriching themselves. You find that the 70 to 80% of the budget approved are on recurrent for payment of salaries. So, what do you have for purchase of equipments? And when some of them get these equipments with the little money left they end up purchasing substandard equipments.

Also, the agencies will look at how they will also get their own share. They are Nigerians and at the end nothing is left. Go to police stations they cannot buy fuel even for emergency.

You go to some police stations no light, no paper to write on. So, you go and report to a policeman that there is an armed robbery and he will be looking at you. Do you expect him to trek? These are human beings too who have dependents; they don’t want to go and commit suicide. So, as long as we don’t take our security seriously we will continue to rigmarole

What is your view own calls for Nigerians to own and bear arms?

I am an advocate of liberalisation of fire arms, though many people argue that we are not ripe, we are not mature for that.

For me, we need to allow Nigerians carry licensed arms not the one that some state governors are advocating that everyone should carry arms. No, that will lead us to anarchy.

I believe that if I carry a licensed gun these criminals will find it very difficult to come to my house because they know I am armed. But they are doing what they are doing because they play with arms. Remember it was the late Sage Nnamdi Azikiwe that said that it is only a mad man that will argue with a man with gun

So, it we liberalise it they won’t be that daring though these are long term measures.

If you look the issue of the state police, which I have also been advocating for, there is no state in this country that doesn’t have a state police in the name of one vigilante group or another or security outfit; why don’t we formalise it in terms of amendment of the laws and allowing them bear arms and compliment the police.

The argument people have against it is that it will be abuse and I ask: Is the Nigeria Police as presently constituted not being abused? You see one individual carrying more than 10 policemen. So, it could be abused but the law is there to check whatever rights are abused by anybody.

If we don’t allow individuals to carry arms we can as well allow state security outfits to carry arms. They know the environment and will be able to confront terrorists operating within their axis. I give you example of Ondo state where the Amotekun is very effective but for the jolt from the attack on the Catholic Church they have been really good.