Asipa Kaoli Olusanya, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State, is the Vice chairman of the party in the state. The frontline politician who once contested for the governorship seat of the state has chided Senator Enyinaya Abaribe for calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign over the worrisome state of insecurity across the country. Speaking with ‘Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, the APC leader talks about governance in Lagos State by his party. Excerpts.
LET’S start with security situation across the country. The president expressed shock that things are still as bad as they are and the national assembly called for more effort to secure the country. Are you worried too?
Before anything, I want to say that the insecurity across the country is disturbing and worrisome. I agree with those saying the government needs to do better to further secure the lives and properties of Nigerians. Moving on our roads is no longer safe, neither are the waterways safe. People are being attacked, kidnapped and killed at random. The frequency of the invasions of farmlands and villages by bandits is disturbing and alarming. Farmers are no longer happy to go to their farms as they are being threatened, raped and killed incessantly. These are not good news at all.
The basic responsibility of government is security of lives and properties. So, no responsible government will be happy doing nothing about all these. That is why I am confident the current administration is working underground to find lasting solution to it all. No life should be lost avoidably. In 2015, Nigerians voted for President Buhari because they had a lot of confidence in his ability to tackle the issue of insecurity which was already a monster by then. They knew that as an Army General, he has what it takes to defeat terrorism.
And he has done a lot since he came. There is still a lot to do but he has done a lot on security in addition to fighting corruption. The twin monsters were the major things he promised to fight and he is fighting them both. When he came, Boko Haram was in charge of about 15 Local Government Areas in Bornu and Adamawa axis. They had their flags hoisted and had their governments running in those places. But I doubt if Boko Haram is still holding a single town anywhere in the country today. When he came, Buhari changed the security architecture and we saw results.
But fighting insurgency is like fighting guerrilla warfare. It doesn’t end easily. They will keep coming and running back for a while. They are not like regular armies that once defeated, will retreat totally. They are amorphous. That is not an excuse any way. We must find a way of quickly ending the insurgency in the northeast and secure the rest of the country properly. That is the expectation of Nigerians from the government and the government must deliver on this for Nigerians to be happy.
What is your take on the call by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign?
The person who made the call is merely calling for relevance by taking to the gallery to draw attention from his constituents and his party. He just wants to be seen saying something and the insecurity menace provided him an opportunity to engage in showmanship. Don’t forget that it is this same Senator Abaribe, who stood surety for Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader and the fellow has now absconded. Has anybody asked him to resign? Knowing the gravity of what he did and the outcome, he should know that he is still a free man today because the government is a lenient one.
He stood bail for a man charged with treason and secession and he cannot produce him. He should be in custody. Resignation of the President is not the solution. I won’t support such politically motivated call. I’ll rather align with the Senate President’s position that the government should improve the architecture of security across the country. I also support those asking the President to review the service chiefs with a view to deciding what to do with them. If they lack fresh ideas to tackle the menace, then they should be replaced.
The President must do everything possible to rejig the security architecture. Similarly, the morale of the fighting forces and other security operatives across the country must be examined and improved. Security is serious work and the operatives must be in high morale. Then we must ensure that adequate and up to date equipment are made available to tackle insecurity. Criminals are well equipped, so our security operatives too must be better equipped if we want an end to criminalities. And also of importance is intelligence gathering. This will help us to be proactive instead of being reactive.
On the Amotekun initiative, what is your position as regards the various arguments for and against?
I am on the side of the demand of the people. I am happy that the misunderstanding that sparked the debate has been resolved amicably and the Amotekun initiative has come to stay. We owe it as a responsibility to ourselves to secure ourselves. When a people within any polity, come together to say we want to secure ourselves, it can never be illegal. It should be allowed. Of course, it must be in conformity with the constitution, because we must be ruled by laws. I appreciate the southwest governors for proving to the world that Yorubas are very intelligent and analytical people.
They have shown that we are not rabble-rousers or noise makers. They addressed a major problem and proffered a solution. The southwest was almost taken over by criminals and some people want us to fold our arms and be watching helplessly. The governors did well with Amotekun and the people are with them all the way. Imagine some marauders invading Yorubaland and kidnapping someone of Chief Olu Falae’s status and killing the daughter of Chief Fashoranti. It is an insult. I really congratulate the governors for getting it right.
Take the Badoo security crisis we had in Ikorodu few years ago for example. That is one incident that strengthened my faith in community policing. The solution did not come from the police at all. It came from the local populace. The local vigilante group, working with the traditional rulers, the people of the communities and local intelligence put together all led to the end of the Badoo killers. The people secured themselves when it became obvious that local policing was the only solution to the killings among us.
I am sure they consulted widely before coming up with the initiative. It is a welcome development and it is one of the best ways to tackle criminality. It is part of the community policing approach to crime fighting that we have been championing. We need to up our approach to policing in this country. In Lagos for example, we have about 5, 000 policemen to almost 20million people. That is as good as government abdicating its security function entirely. That is about one policeman to 35, 000 people. That can never be effective. And like I said, there’s no government without security. So, it is a great move.
So, what advice will you give the governors as they move to tidy up the initiative in conformity with the laws of the land?
I will advise them to promptly come up with an enabling law that will not be in conflict with the constitution. All the state assemblies must work together on this and deliver it in good time. Then, a proper evaluation of the cost of successfully floating the initiative must be done. The cost of equipment, personnel recruitment, remunerations, administrative structure, management, etc must be clearly determined and spelt out before take-off. We should do it in a way that it will not be messed up later. The planning must be proper. The euphoria is good but the implementation must be carefully done.
Similarly, they must define the roles of other stakeholders like the big industries, local governments among others. The relationship between Amotekun operatives and the police must also be spelt out. The issue of whether the operatives will be armed or not should also be discussed and determined. As well as prosecution of arrested criminals; it is important to know how they will be prosecuted because the greatest frustration of local vigilantes is seeing criminals they arrested being released by the police after a while. Who will investigate and prosecute the arrested people? All these are things that should be spelt out clearly.
Talking politics now, will you say Lagos state being administered by a party at the centre since 2015 has been beneficial to the people?
The answer is yes and no. I’ll say ‘No’ to explain the expectations of the politicians across the state, who were hoping that once we move to the centre, there will be an upsurge in federal appointments. They were of the opinion that all the federal parastatals in Lagos will become ours to man and head. But we have not seen that happening and that has not met the expectations of this class of Lagosians who had dreamt of being part of a government at the federal level for so long only to be disappointed by the turn of events.
But I’ll say ‘Yes’ in the sense that we have benefitted from the spread of federal projects across the state and even the southwest. The Apapa-Oshodi expressway is a large project. So is the Lagos-Ibadan road. The rail project is there too. So, I will say it has been very beneficial in that area. Also, some refunds of monies spent on federal roads in the past by Lagos state government have also been made. This is another benefit of being in the same party with the federal government. We have also seen less conflict between Lagos and the federal government this time around.
APC has done well in Lagos. Lagos state is unique. There is a template being followed in the administration of Lagos state. Not all states have such. Since 1999 till date, except for an interregnum between 2015 and 2019, when there was an aberration, the template and vision of Lagos have been followed religiously by all the governors we had. I am happy that we now have another governor who is committed to the template. If we continue like this with cooperation, resources and commitment, the quality of lives will continue to improve in Lagos.
There is however a jeopardy, which is the influx of other Nigerians into Lagos unchecked. Lagos is not a country on its own. It is a polity within the Nigerian state and as such, other Nigerians cannot be stopped from freely moving in and out of Lagos. And as they come, pressure is being put on the infrastructure in Lagos. The capacities of our roads, schools, hospitals are stretched and this is the jeopardy. But the Babajide Sanwoolu administration since it came on board has left nobody in doubt that it has the capacity to improve on the growth and development of Lagos.
(The Nation)
