A former Deputy Director, Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree, has identified politics as a factor hindering security agencies from effectively performing their jobs.
Nigeria currently faces myriads of security challenges with banditry activities in the northwest, terrorism in the North-East, militancy in the South-South, IPOB activities in the southeast, calls for secession in the South-West among others.
Although some successes have been recorded in the fight against insecurity across the country, Amachree believes more can be achieved if politics does not hinder security personnel in carrying out their constitutional duties.
“One thing I know is that the intelligence community is solid in this country but what impedes them in carrying out some of the jobs they want to do is politics, politicians because when you mix with politics security, then it becomes a big problem,” he said.
“If these agencies are independent on their own, they should be able to do a better job but when they are under the direction of leaders that are not forthcoming or who don’t think seriously about the whole country, then we have a problem.”
Arrested But Not Prosecuted?
Amachree, an intelligence officer, said the whole country is under siege.
Citing kidnappings and attacks that regularly occur, he noted that Nigeria needs to solve what he described as some fundamental problems.
One of such, he stated, was divisiveness among the citizens, with another being unpatriotic acts exhibited by Nigerians.
According to Amachree, a recent survey carried out in the country indicated that only 37 per cent of Nigerians are patriotic, a situation he said isn’t good enough.
He lamented that though some arrests have been made by security agencies, some of the suspects are not being prosecuted.
“When we start to have these different kinds of attitudes of where we came from or whether the herdsmen, bandits are from outside the country or they are unknown gunmen, it is something that we have to put a finger on.
“When these kinds of things happen, people are arrested, nobody is prosecuted or if they are prosecuted, nobody is jailed. Then it becomes a problem whereby we keep on calling names or apportioning blames in the country,” he said.
