APC Chieftain, CSP, Goleng Rtd Urges Middle Belt To Engage Retired Security Personnel On Internal Security

Yakubu Busari

The CSP, to Sen Jonah David Jang and the All Progressives Congress, APC , Candidate for Chairmanship of Kanke Local Government Council of Plateau State, Hon. James Goleng, Rtd, has advocated for the use of retired military, DSS, Police, Air Force, and Navy retirees to be engaged by their respective states in securing communities, especially with the latest incessant attacks, kidnapping, and banditry.

Goleng disclosed in an interview with our correspondent in Jos South LGA , while condemning the rate of insecurity and influx of foreigners in the Middle Belt geopolitical zone of the country.

He said, we cannot expose some issues on social media or in the news. We cannot help if those in governance are not willing to take our advice. The reason for all the attacks is because of the systematic nature itself, and our government officials are not ready to end the killings, but if they are willing, they should have adopted a new strategy that can checkmate the influx of these foreigners into our ancestral communities, coming to dominate us.

“Look at Plateau State is surrounded by what ? in Wase LGA we are bordering Taraba ,Bauchi and Gombe states ,then the Northern part here is Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Benue states ,if you look at the attacked that is coming through Nasarawa State they’re coming from Wamba ,Bauchi they’re coming from Gindiri in Mangu LGA so what are these Local governments Chairmen doing to synergize with their neighboring LGAs in those states to curb the incessant attacks.

See, what are they doing to stop this from happening and to also secure the LGAs under the pressure of attackers? What are they expected to do as council chairmen? They need to look at the critical information revealing the attackers’ route because there’s no constitutional provision that prevents them from partnering with each other on security and protection of their citizens.

Goleng lamented that the neighbouring LGAs had continued to remain vulnerable to bandits, kidnapping, and killing of people in Plateau and Middle Belt states.

He admonished that the Chairmen of LGAs in Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe, Kaduna, Nasarawa states are supposed to be holding annual meetings on a monthly basis on the issues of insecurity around the border communities to prevent incessant attacks by these criminal elements.

Hon.James Goleng urged public office holders, especially the affected LGAs, to synergize on the insecurity by mapping out measures for the security of their communities. Every day you hear stories of attacks on people, and all the Government would be saying on the media is that, “We are on top of the situation,” and tomorrow again another fresh attack, and then the government would call for a security meeting while the warring tribes or religious leaders would be engaged in stakeholders’ meetings who are not part of the problem.

According to him, the following morning the attackers would take advantage of the incident and strike, causing havoc as they keep planning, while the appropriate authority cannot do the needful to protect people’s lives.

He disclosed that the Nigerian government should recruit retired security personnel based on how they understand how to solve problems of insecurity, not on ranks or political affiliation.

Goleng stated that the deplorable security challenges in Plateau State are that the government always appoints the wrong people to man the security department on political lineage or godfatherism, but those at the grassroots who can help fish out the right people from their communities are not included.

Let’s involve those retired personnel who also understand how to address issues of crime fighting.

Adding, you may have a low-ranking officer who understands how the system operates, especially in advanced world retired security personnel who are still strong and engaged in security issues, and they even deployed them outside their respective countries on security assignments.

Goleng reiterated that the situation in Nigeria is quite different, and in Plateau State we have thousands of retired military, DSS, Navy and Airforce personnel, but the government refused to invite them for a round table meeting on how the insecurity pervades our rural communities.

The Nigerian government doesn’t value the experience of our retired security personnel, as the worst enemy of the zone continues to wreak havoc for 27 years without any solution; so, we’re suggesting to the government at all levels to bring in retired personnel to take charge of our communities.

He commended the GOC 3div .for relocating from the headquarters to Mangu LGA and opening units to tackle insecurity in Plateau’s vulnerable areas. As a human being, I appreciate the effort, but all these strategies by the military won’t help the situation because there are those who are trained for internal security.

Goleng emphasized that the protection of the lives and property of the citizens under internal security is not for the military. In those days, you only saw a military man once in a while because of the nature of their barracks, which are well equipped with all the facilities, including a market, but today in Nigeria, the military personnel are deployed across the major streets of the country.

He stressed that the familiarity between the military personnel and civilians had brought out some of their operational tactics because the personnel themselves became used to the members of the public, and that discredited them.

James pointed out that some of them connived with civilians to commit all manner of crimes in society, so those who are trained for internal security should be mobilized and assigned to help in addressing the problems of insecurity.

He noted that resolving the problem of insecurity requires collaboration between the citizens, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and security forces to dialogue and find lasting solutions.

James said, in the early days of Nigeria, when a stranger visited any community, the people would take him to the Chief of the place or Village head and call for a meeting to announce his coming to the people. We have Fulani herdsmen who want to settle down for a few days and leave, which the Ardo would present him, including members of his family, to the community, but today that is gone.

The illegal immigrants now occupy our hills and forests without any security check because government officials have developed a nonchalant attitude toward the primary concern of insecurity