- The President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, Dr Ona Ekhomu, has said the Federal Government is not handling the agitation for the release of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, well.
The President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, Dr Ona Ekhomu, has said the Federal Government is not handling the agitation for the release of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, well.
While recalling how the Boko Haram insurgency started, Ekhomu said the country could not handle another insurgency that might result from the fallout of the Shi’ites protest.
He advised the Federal Government to adopt strategic risk management measures to prevent insurgency and militancy in the country.
In a statement on Thursday, the security expert said the 10th anniversary of the Boko Haram insurgency should teach the government that it was easier to start armed conflict than to end it.
The leader of Boko Haram, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf and over 700 members of the Islamic sect, were killed in Maiduguri, Borno State on July 30, 2009.
Ekhomu, who is the first chartered security professional in Nigeria, said the Boko Haram insurgency started due to “absence of responsible governance in July 2009.”
He said the government should have obeyed the court order that El-Zakzaky be released on bail in December 2016 to douse tension in the country.
“The population of Shi’ites in Nigeria, which is estimated at more than five million, is more than the population of many European countries,” he noted.
The security expert advised politicians not to start any new insurgency as the current threats such as herdsmen militias, bandits, ethnic militias, Niger Delta militants were existential security threats that had yet to be resolved.
Ekhomu said the Federal Government and Borno State officials wrongly thought that the Boko Haram problem had been solved as of July 31, 2009.
“To date, the crisis has claimed over 35,000 lives, including 65 mourners this week in Badu, Borno State. The insurgency has created 2.1 million Internally Displaced Persons in the North-East. The nation cannot afford another insurgency,” he added.
