• Wants more powers for govs to tackle insecurity
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, has clarified that he does not utilise the controversial ‘Security Vote’, but was advocating for state governors to be granted greater flexibility and authority to address security challenges at the subnational level, though the country is a federation.
He made the disclosure while responding to questions from State House Correspondents after he met with President Bola Tinubu to seek an appointment for South East leaders and Ohanaeze Ndigbo to meet the president over unrelenting insecurity in the region, which he said has defied combined efforts of the southeast governors.
Uzodimma emphasised that despite not having a security vote at his disposal as the ‘Chief Security Officer’ of Imo State, he employs a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic approaches to effectively tackle security challenges within the bounds of the law.
Uzodimma underscored the importance of granting Governors more autonomy to efficiently fulfill their duties and responsibilities in serving the people.
He said: “On security vote, I’m not against it, but I don’t operate it in Imo state. Again, you should find out from my parliament, I don’t operate it in Imo State but I still think that governors should be given a headroom, governors should be allowed a window to have funds they can use to manage security issues.
“As I speak to you, we are not addressing the problem of insecurity in Imo state through kinetic means alone, we have adopted both kinetic and non kinetic approach. We also procure intelligence that will help security agencies function effectively and efficiently. So all these are intangible aspects of security control measures. So it is then important that governors who have been elected, sworn-in to manage the resources and the mandate of the people be given latitude to operate so that they’ll be able to provide results.”
He also noted that because of the federal structure of the country, State Governors are not at liberty to choose or reject security measures decided by the Federal Government.
Responding to the possibility of having a military operation in the southeast and if it will be welcomed by the people, he said: “Well, in the first place we have only one United federation. Like the other gentleman asked, we have activities at the sub national level and we have activities at the federal government level. And the 1999 constitution as amended, provided and accommodative some issues and projects exclusively for the federal government to handle, security being one of them.
“Second thing is, whereas, we as governors are called chief security officers at the sub national level, we rely solely on the security logistics and equipment and services provided by federal government under the doctrine of federalism, so we are only federating unit. On the other hand, at the sub national level, we don’t have the right to choose or reject security measures from federal government being a part of the federal government.
“You know, this trouble when it started at the initial time. Some people decided on their own to politicize it. And in the process, what we’ve got was a cocktail of issues. That today is very clear that these issues must be resolved. If we will now begin to embark on investigation to find out what happened or what didn’t happen. We will have further elongate the problems.
“Federal government has been there, the Nigerian army has been working, the Nigerian police has been working. All the security agencies have been working collaboratively with the local authorities because at the end of the day, federal government security officers must also work with local input in terms of local intelligence gathering, community vigilante and all sorts of things. So it is going to be a collaborative effort.”
Additionally, the governor emphasised that the people of the Southeastern region, just like those in other parts of the country, place a strong emphasis on the unity of Nigeria. As a result, Governor Uzodimma stated that it is vital for the Federal Government to provide support to enable them to carry out their daily lives and conduct their businesses effectively.
He declined to give details of what the Southeast leaders would be demanding from Tinubu when the meeting holds, but lamented that non-state actors have utilised fear and indiscriminate killings and brigandage to enforce an illegal sit-at-home on some days in the region.
According to him, the problem had also become an issue of “perception management”, even as he pointed out that international diplomacy, which is also part of the solution, is beyond the purview of State Governors.
Asked about the claim by former Nigeria Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, that his men are helping the a federal Government tackle insecurity in the Southeast, Uzodimma replied that he was not aware of such, and can’t identify who are are ‘Dokubo’s men’.
The Governor further highlighted the flooding ravaging the Southeast, declaring that a recent hydrographic survey shows that the huge cost of remedying the situation may be beyond the capabilities of State Governments.