Insecurity: I will Establish National Guard, Says Olawepo-Hashim
Mr.
Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, the presidential candidate of People’s Trust
(PT) in 2019 election, has announced his plan to establish National
Guard to contain internal security threats if elected President of
Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview at the weekend, Mr. Olawepo
Hashim chided the APC government for failing to contain internal
security breaches, promising that he would overhaul the security
architecture to make Nigeria a safer place for all.
Olawepo-Hashim
said, “Security is not just a question of spending bigger budgets; it
is about having the right structures and strategies. As it is, the Armed
Forces of the Federation is over-stressed and distracted by deployments
for internal security operations.
“I think it is time for
Nigeria to have a National Guard. I’m going to put up a National Guard
as a President of Nigeria. My reasons and justifications 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, which is the National
Guard.
“We don’t need to expose the regular army trained mainly
in the art of war. The military is meant to focus on defending the
territorial integrity of the nation. The National Guard is for
deployment to prevent or quell internal conflict and eruptions beyond
the capacity of the police service. The idea of deploying military for
internal security assignment is an abnormality which I will correct as a
President,” he pledged.
Lamenting the growing lawlessness in the
country, Olawepo -Hashim said what encouraged the ongoing rascality and
bloodletting was that “people are not promptly punished when they
murder other people.”
He said, “Government issued 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 crimes, they need to be punished promptly. And as you
make example of a few people, it acts as deterrent to others,” he
emphasised.
Justifying his plans to create National Guard as part
of general overhauling of national security apparatus, the PT candidate
observed that the life of ordinary Nigerians has become so cheap even
as murderers and arsonists go mostly unpunished.
He pledged, “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, and
that there are no special Nigerians who have licence to kill other
Nigerians. Now, that’s the first thing. We need to change the
psychological environment and people know that you have to be careful.”
Source:- Independentng
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