From Molly Kilete, Abuja
A former director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, has called on the federal government to set up aBoard of Inquiry (Bo) to investigate Tuesday night’s attack on Kuje Prison in Abuja, FCT.
Ejiofor, a security expert, described the Kuje prison attack as disheartening and a national embarrassment to the country. He said a Board of Inquiry should be set up to unravel the circumstances surrounding the attack as sufficient intelligence was provided by the Department of State Services on several occasions of an impending attack on the facility.
The former DSS director in an interview with Saturday Sun, while suspecting sabotage on the part of the security agencies, noted that the Nigerian Correctional Service, do not have the capacity to curtail such attack. He said only a BoI, would determine whether or not sufficient intelligence was made available and why the relevant security agencies did not act swiftly to prevent the attack from happening.
“It’s quite disheartening and embarrassing to the entire country. It’s a national embarrassment and I think what we should be doing now is to prevent a future reoccurrence not just sitting down and folding our hands. And the only way we can do it is to mobilize our people to volunteer information to the security agencies,” he stated.
On whether or not adequate intelligence was provided by the DSS, Ejiofor, said: “Our problem in Nigeria is not the dearth of Intelligence. We have an abundance of intelligence and Nigerians agreed that there was sufficient intelligence from the DSS, including that of June 26. But what people are asking is how were we not able to preempt this. And I can tell you without looking back that much as I sympathise with the action agencies because they don’t have the capacity to deal with the situation, it’s quite unfortunate.
“It’s not only in the security sub-sector. But people are worried that security is the primary purpose of government as enshrined in our constitution, so if you don’t have security, nobody is safe. You cannot have development and that is why people are worried,” Ejiofor stated.
He advised Nigerians to be more security conscious, especially at a time when the terrorists and other criminals who escaped from prison are at large.
He also called on communities, residents of estates and neighbourhoods to boost their internal security network by settling up local security apparatus and reporting strange faces to the security agencies.
“Let the people be security conscious of their environment now that the people are out there, you don’t know where they are, so if you see people with strange faces, they should be able to report and people should in their estates organize their security arrangements. Security is everybody’s business, we are going through perilous times and challenges,” he said.
Ejiofor, who said the attack could have been avoided, urged the security agencies to up their games as the 2023 general elections approach to prevent future attacks. He said the terrorists do not believe in democracy, and would do everything to jeopardize the country’s electioneering process.
The security expert, who also spoke on the attack on the Presidential convoy in Kastina State, said their actions were aimed at bringing disrepute to the government and instilling fears in the minds of the people.
“These terrorists are just testing the waters. They are very daring, they want to bring the government to disrepute and make sure that people lose confidence in government. So if you can go ahead and attack the president’s convoy, even if you knew he wasn’t there, because there is no way the president would be there and they try it. If they try it, it is just a sign that we are capable of doing this or that. It was an ambush and the element of surprise is part of terrorism,” he stated.
On whether he suspects sabotage on the part of the security agencies on Tuesday’s attack on Kuje Prison since sufficient intelligence was provided, he said: “Of course, there are a lot of compromises within the security agencies. I will give you an example of my own case, when I was kidnapped in 2017, four of the people who kidnapped me were serving soldiers. And people asked how do you know. I interacted with them. You heard of Wadume’s case. Examples are bound of compromises and I have also suggested that the security agencies especially the police, the Army must look inward to fish out the bad eggs amongst them, otherwise, all the exercise we are doing will be in futility because its a rat that is in the house that would go outside to tell the rat that is outside.
“So as you are planning your operations they are leaking the strategies. So there are compromises, no doubt. But they must be fished out.
On the way forward, Ejiofor said “we should prioritize our security. We should re-strategise. People calling for a change of leadership I don’t see that as a solution. Because you are not going to bring foreigners or outsiders to man the situation. If we continue to operate in the same environment, under the same circumstance, we are going to be having problems so the government should take security very seriously.