Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has said Nigeria’s security architecture, especially the military, needs rejigging, noting that its presence in the everyday lives of the citizens poses a great concern for the nation’s security.
He said this in his Easter message to the nation on Sunday.
The cleric said while the military is responsible for protecting lives and sustaining peace, its ubiquity across the country has consequences on its professionalism, integrity and perceived roles.
“The notion of rejigging the security architecture is a hackneyed cliché that is now at best, an oxymoron. It is difficult to fathom our current situation regarding the ubiquity of the military in our national life.
“It is impossible to explain how we can say we are in a civilian democracy with the military literally looking like an Army of occupation with an octopussean spread across all 36 states and Abuja. This has very serious consequences both for its professionalism, its integrity and perceived role in protecting society,” Kukah said.
Citing the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, who recently referred to the military as facing the dilemma of what he called ‘see finish’, the Sokoto clergyman said it is difficult to say whether the persistence of insecurity is a cause or a consequence of military ubiquity.
“Trillions of naira continue to go into bottomless pits with little measurable benefits. Our military’s professionalism cannot be diluted by the recruitment of hunters, vigilante groups, and other unprofessional and untrained groups,” he said.
Kukah also noted in his message that Nigerian leaders have stumbled and fumbled while searching for the way home, adding that for over 60 years, successive leaders have been struggling to put the nation on the right pedestal.
“Our leaders chose the feast rather than the fast. We are today reaping what we sowed yesterday. For over 60 years, our leaders have looked like men in a drunken stupor, staggering, stumbling and fumbling, slurring in speech, with blurred visions searching for the way home.
“The corruption of the years of a life of immoral and sordid debauchery has spread like cancer destroying all our vital organs. The result is a state of a hangover that has left our nation comatose,” he said.
The cleric noted that Easter is a time for the government to retrace its steps which would usher in a new dawn for the country, assuring that Nigeria can be great again with purposeful leadership.