Worried by the frightening insecurity across the land, the presidency has directed that security should be beefed up nationwide with immediate effect to curb the ugly trend.
Consequently, all the nation’s security forces, comprising the military, police, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NCDC) and other paramilitary agencies have been put on red alert on a 24-hour basis in order to restore sanity to the land.
Nigerian Tribune’s investigations revealed that the security forces are to keep eagle’s eyes on land borders, sea and airports and as well protect public and private installations such as banks, electricity installations, oil pipelines, telecommunications masts, worship places, schools, relaxation centres and critical bridges, among others.
According to our source, “based on the commitment of the administration to ensure absolute security in the country, Mr President has directed that military personnel, especially the soldiers, should be drafted out to embark on a 24-hour patrol of the nation’s highways in order to put a final stop to the increasing rate of kidnappings and killings which now reign supreme in the land.”
The source further explained that henceforth, heads of the security agencies would be held responsible for further lapses in any part of the country.
Some states in the southern parts of the country to be given special attention include Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Enugu as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and its neighbouring states, while the existing security arrangements for northern parts of the country remained.
The nation had been under insecurity threat in the last few days ranging from kidnapping for ransom to broad daylight attacks and killings.
The latest is the murder of Mrs Funke Olakunrin, daughter of the leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Ondo State by gunmen, as the well as killing of 10 people in a fresh attack on a Katsina village in Katsina State.
Others are the bloody protests by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in Lagos, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, during which several lives were lost and properties worth millions of naira damaged, the killing and abduction of an uncle as well as stepmother to a serving senator, Elisha Abbo, in Adamawa State also at the weekend
The Nigerian Tribune investigations revealed that in compliance with the presidency’s directive, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, had deployed special forces and seasoned investigators from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) from the Force Headquarters, Abuja, in the southern parts of the country for a massive manhunt for the killers of Mrs Olakunrin, with a view to tracking, arresting and bringing them to face the law.
According to a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, in Abuja, the IGP, as part of measures to prevent a future occurrence of such incident, “has ordered the total overhaul of security architecture on the highways straddling the southern part of the country, the commissioners of police in the affected states were ordered by the IGP to emplace adequate security in their areas of operations.”
A very senior security officer who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja in confidence on Sunday hinted that “the action became necessary based on the negative security reports pouring into the seat of power, Abuja, from states of the federation.”
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