Fayemi: I Have Courage to Fight Principalities Holding Nigeria Back

Gboyega Akinsanmi

Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has declared that if offered the opportunity to lead Nigeria from May 29, 2023, he will confront and tame principalities, as well as those who consider themselves as the owners of Nigeria while upholding the rule of law.

Fayemi has also disclosed that Nigeria “is at war,” and recommended counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism measures that would go beyond infantry and other approaches to warfare.

He made these revelations on Friday at a session with political stakeholders and journalists in Abuja after declaring his interest to seek the nomination of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election.
Responding to a myriad of challenges facing the country, Fayemi identified impunity as a very serious issue, that the commitment, compassion, and competence of a leader alone would not address.

Fayemi said what “is lacking in Nigeria is the leadership and courage to do that what is right. Some people consider themselves as principalities and people who believe that they are the owners of this country.

“They believe they can do whatever they like. They believe the law cannot catch up with them. We will not be arbitrary. But we will be very sneaky about upholding the rule of law, and access to justice for all Nigerians.

“We must at all times be advocates of citizen’s rights, as well as responsibilities. Because when you have rights, you also have responsibilities as a citizen of the country. We must uphold this value and live by it.

“Impunity reigns because our justice system has been crippling and because the entire justice sector system in our country is problematic. If we look at the journey from the investigation of the crime, to the conviction of the crime you would have forgotten that the person committed the crime.

“I think swift delivery of justice, access to justice, and accountability in society are areas we need to pay attention to. We need to support our judicial officers so that we will not again tempt them to resort to other misbehaviour because the state has not taken on its responsibility in terms of remuneration and terms of support to the judicial officers.”

On the spate of insecurity nationwide, Fayemi acknowledged the asymmetric nature of security challenges confronting the country, which he said, required devising unconventional measures to guarantee peace, security, and stability across the federation.

He suggested that a new force posture “has to be developed by our military because we are not fighting a conventional war. Such a posture must be developed to respond to a new security environment and a new order of battle.

“What we are dealing with now is unconventional. More often than not, we do not even see the people that you are fighting,” Fayemi observed with grave concern for the future of Nigeria.

The Ekiti governor, therefore, canvassed the need “to devise counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism measures that will go beyond infantry and other extreme approaches to warfare. We are at war.”

He pointed out that what happened in the train attack “is an indication that we need to take immediate measures. Around the suburb of Abuja, I hear some of these things are also beginning to happen.

“We need to watch. I know President Muhammadu Buhari is not a man of many words. He is taking too many steps that some of us may not be able to speak to. He is also preventing many things that they cannot also come up and say.

“The task of securing is ongoing. It is continuous. It is a work in progress. We must have faith. But we must take adequate steps on intelligence, on better recruitment and equipment to address the issue,” Fayemi advised on how to handle insecurity in the federation.

He cited the example of Egypt, which according to him, was not up to half of Nigeria’s population, but appreciated the socio-economic and political implication of building a strong and virile police force.

He said: “We are told Egypt has one million police officers. In Nigeria, we have well, we always tell ourselves we have 350, 000 policemen. But 150, 000 amongst them are doing VIP duties.”

He explained how Egypt was able “to recruit in an emergency manner in 1967. It moved from an army of 10,000 to 250,000 within the space of one year,” thereby emphasising the need to devise practicable means of recruiting more men and women into the forces.