Insecurity: I ‘ll establish national guard, if elected – Presidential Candidate

The presidential candidate of People’s Trust (PT) in 2019 general election, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo Hashim has pledged to establish national guard to address insecurity across the country, if elected.

Speaking in an interview on Sunday, Mr. Olawepo Hashim lampooned the APC government for failing to contain internal security breaches, just as he promised to overhaul the Nigerian security architecture to make the country a safer place for all.

Hear him, “security is not just a question of spending bigger budget; it is about having the right structures and strategies. As it is, the Nigerian armed forces is overstretched and distracted by deployments for internal security operations.

“I’m going to put up a national guard as a president of Nigeria. My reasons are self-evident, our internal security questions have graduated to the level of insurrection. We are now having well trained militias perhaps having more training than the police but probably, you may not need full scale military action to handle them.

“That is what a national guard job is, an intermediate force between the regular armed forces and the police. Nigeria needs a well trained intermediate force that is going to act between the Army and the police. The national guard is for deployment to prevent or quell internal conflict and eruptions beyond the capacity of the police. 

“The idea of deploying military for internal security assignment is an abnomality which I will correct as a President. What encourages ongoing rascality and bloodletting is that people are not promptly punished when they murder other people. 

“Government issues long statements, giving excuses, telling us why some people were killed. That’s not what we should be hearing from law enforcement officers. When people commit crime, they need to be punished promptly. And as you make example of a few people,it act as deterrent to others,” he emphasised.

“From day one, we would act decisively so that people would know there is a new Sheriff in town. Under us, every Nigerian would be assured that his life really counts, We need to change the psychological environment and imbibe it in people to be careful. The other step is to upgrade security communications and mobility capabilities. 

“Advanced surveilance and reconnaissance equipments must be acquired and personnel trained to run them. Early warning signals will be taken more seriously. We will demonstrate political will to tackle insecurity in Nigeria,” he stressed.

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