Failed Political Leadership Contributed To The Insecurity In The South-East -By Chima Christian

The security issues in the southeast were both foreseeable and preventable. But the political leadership of the southeast failed yet again. Abuja-controlled security resources became lethargic and unresponsive to the security demands of the country. This included the southeast which had an often exaggerated but potent threat of terrorists masquerading as herdsmen. Seeing how Benue state, for instance, had been overrun by terrorists and the accusations of Federal Government’s duplicity coming from the Government of Benue State, it became apparent that the southeast needed a homegrown security outfit to fill in the gap.

While the southwest responded with Amotekun, as imperfect as it is, southeast political power players did not show as much commitment and decisiveness. So separatists, who I suspect have always nursed an armed agenda, saw an opportunity to plant themselves as that credible alternative given the halting reaction of southeast political leadership. People like us forewarned that such amorphous non-state actors who are not accountable nor can indeed be held to account is an uncontrollable experiment.

Today, the chickens have sadly come to roost. Armed agitators and other mutants who their activities inspire, instead of becoming the promised solution, became in and of themselves the biggest security threat to the southeast.

Even as we make a little room for the oft-repeated excuse of foreign operators masquerading as agitators just to make nonsense of the agitation, those pushing fiery anti-establishment rhetorics in the pursuit of their stated political agenda must also take some form of responsibility for what is happening in the southeast today.

Chima Christian

Excerpted from a recent interview where I bared my mind on the just-concluded primaries, defections, separatist movements and insecurity in the southeast. Find the full interview as also published on Nairaland Forum via the link below: