By EMMANUEL AZIKEN
Immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has made further clarifications on his assertion of a linkage between security agencies and the spate of bombings in the country.
In a statement he made before a group of London based Nigerian businessmen and politicians at the Legal Institute, London, Kalu said he was concerned that his assertion about the complicity of security agencies in the spate of bombings that have particularly targeted Igbo people in the Northern part of Nigeria has been misinterpreted and taken entirely out of context.
A statement by his assistant, Mr. Oyekunle Oyewumi clarifying Kalu’s position, said that it was illogical to believe that the Boko Haram operatives given their degree of illetracy could have the intellectual fibre to plan such sophisticated attacks as have been launched against Ndigbo.
He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Kalu’s position is that the security agencies should take a hard look at themselves and their modus operandi.
“They should be vigilant in order to ensure that the purported bad eggs that have infiltrated the ranks of various branches of national security agencies are not the ones responsible for the unending atrocities.
“It is quite right that the searchlight must be beamed in every single direction, including the security outfit, without fear or favour, as we grapple with the nightmare of terrorism and bloody carnage in this country.”
“The sophistication that has characterised the planning, execution and the general top class logistical operations of the terrorists have left many questioning whether some rag-tag illiterate and untrained religious fundamentalists are truly capable of, and singularly responsible for, all the slaughter and destruction that has been associated with Boko Haram. In a democracy, it is not only permissible for citizens to question everything; it is our civic duty to do so.”
“Dr Kalu maintains that it is not really important to waste too much energy on who is or who is not responsible for bringing mass murder into the shops, buses, homes and churches of Ndigbo. No one or group of people should gain the capacity to murder Nigerians in their dozens on a weekly basis. If such capacity is attained, then the security agencies must be held accountable for failing to rise to the challenge, especially as far as intelligence gathering is concerned. That is the crux of the matter.”
“The failure of the security agencies up to this point to gain the confidence of Igbos in terms of demonstrating true capacity and commitment to protect their lives and property is what lies at the heart of the matter. The practical results that we have seen do not match up to the considerable resources that the Federal Government has poured into the security departments.
It is totally disheartening that the budgetary requirements for security is increasing in the same proportion as the Igbos are losing their lives and property. Nigerians cannot be expected to keep mute in the face of the infuriating illogicality whereby the more we spend the less security we get from the responsible agencies. This is the position that Dr Orji Uzor Kalu took and he stands by it.”
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