THE State Security Service (SSS) has raised an alarm over increasing rate of political violence in the country and vowed to deal decisively with perpetrators, just as the Nigeria Police began a workshop on peaceful conduct of elections in April.

Meanwhile, the attempt by the Northern Elders, under the umbrella of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the retired Generals of Northern extraction to embark on the resolution of the spate of crisis and political upheavals in the north prior to the April 2011 general elections has suffered a setback.

Speaking at the opening of a workshop titled ‘’Towards a Secured, Free and Fair General Elections in 2011; Need for an Inter-Agency Partnership’’ organised by the police, the Director General of SSS, Ekpeyong Ita, expressed worries over the desperation exhibited by some political actors, but stated the resolve of security agencies to live up to the challenges.

He said the security agencies had arranged for a meeting with the political parties on the imperative of a free, fair and credible election but some desperate politicians are still engaging in acts of violence.

“Politics in Nigeria is becoming bitter by the day, particularly as some desperate politicians are getting increasingly intolerant of their opponents. This situation has led to increasingly unguarded, inflammatory and unpatriotic statements which are capable of undermining the stability of the country. The police, the SSS have intervened. We have called them and spoken to them. We called the political party leaders. We called individuals and warned them but the situation is still continuing,’’ he said.

He stressed the need for the security agencies in the country to close ranks and keep the country safe especially during the April polls.

“If you take a place like Egypt, with a population far less than what we have, they have more than three million policemen. I don’t think we have up to 300,000 policemen to police more than 150 million people. But people expect so much from us; people expect so much from the police, not thinking of the kind of conditions under which we are working,” the SSS boss said.

Poor attendance by the Arewa stakeholders, particularly the retired Generals and other ex-security chiefs marred the meeting which was held at the secretariat of ACF in Kaduna yesterday.

Besides, in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, it was argued that “the ACF convened a Round Table meeting on security situation in the country and in the North in particular, stressing that the meeting ‘gathered a number of retired military, security and intelligence personnel, under the chairmanship of Gen. Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi”.

Some of those at the meeting apart from Wushishi, included retired Generals – Mohammed Sabo, Halilu Akilu  and Mohammed Nata’ala.

Others are former Inspector General Ibrahim Coomasie, former National Security chief, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi; Alhaji Babagana Kingibe and ACF Secretary General, Colonel Musa Shehu(rtd).

Sani explained that “in reviewing the general security situation in the country, the Round Table, while appreciating the various efforts by the security and intelligence agencies in addressing the myriad of security challenges facing the nation, it nevertheless concluded that a lot needs to be done”.

He gave some of the challenges the nation is facing as “Plateau State ethno-religious violence in Jos, the Boko Haram in Borno and Bauchi states and spate of political assassinations, kidnapping, terrorist bombings and hostage takings for ransom”.

The Northern elders argued that the security problems “need to be more rigorously addressed with a view to finding lasting solution”.

But, the ACF and Northern retired Generals could not adopt any resolution to combat the security challenges at the end of the session, apparently because of the poor attendance.

Posted by admin on Mar 24 2011. Filed under Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry