SHOW ABILITY AS CHIEF SECURITY OFFICERS IN YOUR STATES — SEN UZO KALU TELLS GOVERNORS
Reporter : ONYINYE CHIJIOBI
A former Governor of Abia State and member representing Abia North in the National Assembly, Senator Orji Uzor-Kalu wants state governors to invest more in the security architecture in their localities.
Senator Uzor-Kalu made this known in an interview with journalists in Awka, Anambra State after he attended a youth empowerment programme.
Senator Uzo-Kalu, while lamenting on the rising level of insecurity in the country, maintained that the governors had not shown enough commitment towards fulfilling their statutory obligations as the chief security officers of their various states.
He described the inability of the governors to contain security threats in their states as a sign of dereliction of duty, noting it was wrong for them to turn around to blame the President for the security challenges.
“The governors should play more role in tackling security problems. The governors have a lot of role to play: you can not be crying to the president all the time. It is not the job of the president,” Senator Kalu said.
The Senator noted that Anambra State during the administration of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju was one of those governors who invited the Bakkassi Boys to deal with the situation, which he said gave rise to the achievement recorded then in the security sector.
The Senator representing Abia North advised state governors to liaise with the traditional rulers, youth leaders, leaders of various organizations and security agencies to evolve a workable strategy for the resolution of the security issues in their domains.
He maintained that governors must gather intelligence through constant interaction with community heads and stakeholders.
“They must collaborate with the traditional rulers, heads of security in the state as well as the communities. Once the governors are in good terms with the people, they will identify those committing the offence. I was ruthless with criminals,” he claimed.