…Says secession is no solution
…Sponsors motion on developments in Chad
The Senator representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly, Chief Henry Seriake Dickson, has said that the security problems threatening the existence of the country are a product of the faulty 1999 constitution operational in the country.
Dickson who spoke while making a presentation in the Senate on Tuesday said that the security challenges shouldn’t be blamed on one political party or government.
He said that the founding fathers of the country went for a suitable constitutional arrangement at independence in appreciation of the peculiar nature of the country.
The Senator said that the military disrupted the original intention and arrangement put in place by the founding fathers and foisted on the country a system of government that is only federal in name.
He stressed that there was the need to return to the founding principles when taking critical decisions involving the country which he described as a nation of proud kingdoms.
He criticized the current arrangement where governors are refereed to as Chief Security Officer with no control over security or powers to enforce effective security in their states.
“I watched my brother, the Governor of Niger State when he was lamenting that he has no control over security. It is not that the federal security system is deliberately refusing. I don’t think we should draw that conclusion.
“But what has become apparent is that they are structurally incompetent and incapable. How can one man sit down in an office in Abuja and police our diverse nation of over 200 million people.” He said
Senator Dickson warned that the nation was not only losing lives but was also about to lose the Nigerian dream which shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
“We are about to lose the Nigerian dream and we should not let that happen. We have told everybody including those who are pushing for secession that that is not the solution.”
The Senator who identified the challenge of leadership as the nation’s problem urged the President to rise to the occasion and provide leadership in the area of constitutional reforms.
The Senator later moved a motion requesting the leadership of the Senate to mandate the committees on Defence and National Security to meet with the Honourable Minister òf Foreign Affairs, the National Security Adviser, and others on the regional implications of the developments in Chad.
The Senator representing Bauchi North, Mohammed Adamu Bukachuwa, who seconded the motion requested the inclusion of the Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency to the list of top security figures for the arranged meeting which was accepted.
