Insecurity: I will Establish National Guard, Says Olawepo-Hashim

Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, the presidential candidate of People’s Trust (PT) in 2019 election, has announced his plan to establish National Guard to contain internal security threats if elected President of Nigeria.

Speaking in an interview at the weekend, Mr. Olawepo Hashim chided the APC government for failing to contain internal security breaches, promising that he would overhaul the security architecture to make Nigeria a safer place for all.

Olawepo-Hashim said, “Security is not just a question of spending bigger budgets; it is about having the right structures and strategies. As it is, the Armed Forces of the Federation is over-stressed and distracted by deployments for internal security operations.

“I think it is time for Nigeria to have a National Guard. I’m going to put up a National Guard as a President of Nigeria. My reasons and justifications are self-evident. Our internal security questions have graduated to the level of insurrection. We are now having well-trained militias, perhaps having more training than the police but probably, you may not need full scale military action to handle them.

“That is what a National Guard job is, an intermediate force between the regular armed forces and the police. Nigeria needs a well-trained intermediate force that is going to act between the Army and the police, which is the National Guard.

“We don’t need to expose the regular army trained mainly in the art of war. The military is meant to focus on defending the territorial integrity of the nation. The National Guard is for deployment to prevent or quell internal conflict and eruptions beyond the capacity of the police service. The idea of deploying military for internal security assignment is an abnormality which I will correct as a President,” he pledged.

Lamenting the growing lawlessness in the country, Olawepo -Hashim said what encouraged the ongoing rascality and bloodletting was that “people are not promptly punished when they murder other people.”

He said, “Government issued long statements, giving excuses, telling us why some people were killed. That’s not what we should be hearing from law enforcement officers. When people commit crimes, they need to be punished promptly. And as you make example of a few people, it acts as deterrent to others,” he emphasised.

Justifying his plans to create National Guard as part of general overhauling of national security apparatus, the PT candidate observed that the life of ordinary Nigerians has become so cheap even as murderers and arsonists go mostly unpunished.

He pledged, “From day one, we would act decisively so that people would know there is a new Sheriff in town.
“Under us, every Nigerian would be assured that his life really counts, and that there are no special Nigerians who have licence to kill other Nigerians. Now, that’s the first thing. We need to change the psychological environment and people know that you have to be careful.”

Source:- Independentng