Igbo socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said Nigeria is suffering security challenges today due to dominance of key security positions by largely northerners.
Nigeria’s top security agencies are being headed by Northerners. The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, is from Borno State. The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, is also from Borno.
Also from Borno is the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu. The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, under whose purview are the Prisons Service, Immigration Service, Fire Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, is from Kaduna state.
The Minister of Defence, Mansur Ali emanates from Zamfara State, while the Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, is from Bauchi State. The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, hails from Niger state.
The Director-General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, is from Katsina state.
However, the Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin, is from Ekiti state in the South-West as well as the Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, who is from Cross River state.
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandede, is from Jigawa state, while the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd), is from Bauchi state.
The Controller-General of the Nigeria Prison Service, Ja’afaru Ahmed, is from Kebbi state, while the Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Commission, Boboye Oyeyemi, is from Kwara state.
Also, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, is from Katsina state.
Ohanaeze, in a statement by its spokesman, Uche Achi-Okpaga, said Nigerians were being killed because of lopsidedness in the aforementioned appointments.
“Now every security agency is headed by the North, every military and para-military agency is headed by the North. Every anti-graft agency is headed by the North and virtually Fulani. Why on earth would they not be sentimental? Are they not human beings? That is why we have severe insecurity all over the place because, at the top security echelon, there is no cross-fertilisation of inter-regional security initiatives.
“So, today, in a bid to sustain northern political hegemony, we are playing politics with security and Nigerians are killed in their tens and hundreds incessantly.
“Until we restructure to address these imbalances and shelve the Federal Government of many items on the Exclusive Federal list and assign them to the states, Nigeria will remain like a stationary machine; all motion, no movement.
“If we restructure Nigeria today, all the increasing agitations for self determination from Biafra, Ijaw, Oduduwa among others will subside appreciably.
“Every day we cry of lopsided appointments, but it has continued unabated,” he said in a statement.
