Consult ex-leaders, tackle insecurity together – Baptist president advises Tinubu

In a bid to create a new security operations plan, the Nigerian Baptist Convention has admonished President Bola Tinubu to call an urgent national security summit that includes all previous presidents and heads of state.

Rev. Israel Akanji, President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, made this call at a news conference on Friday marking the 112th Annual Session of the Nigerian Baptist Convention and the 175th Dodransbicentennial celebration of the Baptist Mission work in Nigeria.

The event, which will commence on Saturday, April 26, at the Baptist International Convention Centre along Lagos-Ibadan Motorway, will be hosted by the Providence, Ethiope and Anioma Delta Baptist Conferences.

According to Akanji, former and current security chiefs, including the Minister of Defence, Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police, Director General of the Department of State Security, and heads of the Defence Intelligence Agency and National Intelligence Agency, should also be included in the national security conference.

He bemoaned the nation’s seemingly never-ending unprovoked murders, genocide, kidnappings, terror attacks, and banditry attacks, pointing out that despite efforts to reduce insecurity, crime rates continue to rise.

Akanji claims that the nation is currently dealing with the fallout from the current administration’s weakened security architecture.

“It is therefore imperative for President Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, convene a National Conference on Security with all former Presidents and Heads of State, with all our serving and former security chiefs, such as the Ministers of Defence, Service Chiefs, Inspector Generals of Police, Director Generals of the Department of State Security, heads of Defence Intelligence Agency, and National Intelligence Agency, among others, who will produce a new blueprint for our security operations.

“The situation where we are doing mass burials, as we are witnessing in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Bassa in the Plateau, Benue and other states of the country, is totally unacceptable and reprehensible.

“Similar cases have continued to occur in Katsina, Zamfara, Borno and in other states of the country.

“Our judicial system and the Police too should also rise up to the challenges through accelerated prosecution of those responsible for insecurity.

“This is not the time to pay lip service to the inadequate security situation of our country or continue to allow impunity to fester.

“Let me use this opportunity to reiterate our position as a denomination for the State Police. The present Policing system appears insufficient to curb the menace of insecurity in the country,” he said.

However, Akanji commended President Tinubu for all he is doing to cushion the severity of the economic hardship and urged him to continue to intensify action to put in place economic policies with a human face and to get things fixed on time.

“While we are seeing some improvement in the area of foreign investors, we still appeal for more efforts to boost the investment further,” he said.