By Linus Aleke
A civil rights group, under the aegis of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has slammed the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, over his revelations, that there are about 137 unmanned borders in the north, which, are infiltrated by terrorists from the Sahel to commit mayhem in Nigeria.
HURIWA in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, told the Chief of Defence Staff that Nigerians want results and not excuses.
While, urging the CDS to toe the part of humour by resigning his appointment, instead of the unending excuses, the group also said, the admittance by the CDS unmistakably indicted him, who is supposed to be the first in rank of the entire service chiefs in the whole country.
HURIWA advised the CDS to brace up to the security challenges confronting the nation and proffer solutions to the unmanned borders used as access points by terrorists from Niger Republic and Chad to launch attacks in Nigeria or resign if he is bereft of ideas to address the situation.
What has happened to the deployment of information technology such as drones to checkmate infiltration of bad elements, bringing assorted weapons into Nigeria through northern borders? HURIWA asked.
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The group said, that Gen. Irabor had on Friday at a public lecture in Lagos, disclosed thus: “The porous nature of the borders has made it easily accessible for terrorists and bandits to enter the country to commit mayhem. For instance, there are about 364 approved international border points in Nigeria with about 261 in the northeast and northwest regions.
“Out of this 261, only 124 are manned leaving the remaining 137 unmanned by security agencies. Intelligence suggests that violent actors are using some of these normal border points to move freely from countries into Nigeria to cause mayhem”.
Reacting to the comment credited to CDS, it was disappointing that the Chief of Defence Staff has taken to lamentation. In contrast, his job is not to weary Nigerians with the obvious challenge of porous borders but to solve the security challenge.
“Nigerians are perplexed at the self-indicting revelation by the CDS who came into office on January 26, 2021. If the General knows he can’t protect Nigerians according to the oath of office that he swore, he has failed Nigerians and should resign for a competent person to crush bloodthirsty terrorists and bandits overrunning the country with unfathomable killings and kidnap for ransom. Nigerians are being killed daily in their numbers and are tired of excuses given by CDS and other service chiefs. Nigerians want results not excuses. The CDS should deploy drones and unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor the vast borders said to be porous and volatile. More men should be recruited to man these borders to stop or prevent infiltration by terrorists in Chad and Niger Republic where the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has shown obvious sympathy. By the way why should Nigeria as a Sovereign nation approve more border points than it can protect?”.
The group concluded with the following question, “Is government aware that border security is what make the country sovereign?”.
