Maj-Gen Ogunewe
By Tony Adibe
The Labour Party (LP) Governorship candidate in Imo State, Maj-Gen Lincoln Ogunewe (Rtd) has advised State Governors to make sure that the security of lives and properties was taken seriously as nothing positive could be achieved in the absence of security of lives and property.
Maj-Gen Ogunewe, who was the former Chief of Policy and Plans, Nigerian Army, as well as the Nigeria Defence Adviser to the United Nations, stressed that absolute care must be taken during the establishment of state funded security outfits to make sure “they are all working in the interest of the people and not for the governors.”
NewsBits recalls that the rising insecurity in the six geo- political zones of Nigeria, particularly in the southeast zone on account of the ravaging unknown gunmen, rampaging armed Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers and all manner of bandits, leaves much to be desired.
Also, NewsBits recalls that at a recent 1-day stakeholders Summit organised in Enugu by the LP Caucus of the Southeast, Maj-Gen Ogunewe, as the guest lecturer, had queried the Southeast Governors’ Forum as to why, in spite of all the media hype about formation of a regional security outfit, they have not collectively given the Igbo people an Amotekun like their counterparts in the southwest gave the Yoruba people .
“Why have the five governors in the southeast not given the Igbo a functional and effective Amotekun to checkmate insecurity, as their counterparts in the southwest did?” asked Maj-Gen Ogunewe during the summit.
He had during the summit also given a layman’s definition of security to mean “something you notice, when it is absent, without which nothing functions”, adding that “security is so absent in Ala-Igbo today that we all live in fear, work in fear and sleep in fear. Let us not deceive ourselves”
The LP standard bearer in Imo State, however, said that such a security outfit must have a name and must be established by an Act of the State House of Assembly which would give it legality and the needed foundation.
He explained that on a second note, such a security outfit must undergo some level of “para-military training especially on intelligence and weapon handling.”
Maj Gen Ogunewe also outlined other necessary conditions for the establishment of State founded security outfit to include:
- The outfit must have an office and a recognized address where citizens could go to make complaints and reports.
- It must have an organogram with a well-known command structure for ease of identification.
- The Commander of the outfit and Sub-Commanders must be known and reachable.
- The outfit must have a distinguishable form of identity, uniform, and identity card for its personnel.
- The outfit must have distinguishable vehicle colour and markings for ease of identification.
- The outfit must have a code of conduct that must guide its operations.
- It must be launched to create awareness of its existence.
- The outfit must cooperate with the Military, Police, and other Security Agency in the discharge of their duties.
Maj-Gen Ogunewe asserted that the “Amotekun operating in the Southwest meets these criteria and more.” He insisted: “I am sorry to state that any state security outfit that does not meet the above criteria and more can be likened to a militia. Militias all over the world are known to kill, maim and destroy.”
He further stated that he will keep on speaking at every opportunity at his disposal that “security is everybody’s business” while pleading with all to be involved in ensuring secured states in Nigeria.
Maj Gen Ogunewe said that the “best weapons of conflict resolution are dialogue, pacification and reintegration rather than bullets and guns.”
