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Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently put machinery in motion to tackle the insecurity plaguing the country.

Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday, George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, advised Tinubu to deploy modern technology to deal with banditry, kidnappings and other vices.

said the late governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, would be remembered for established Amotekun, adding that “we copied the American Constitution without following it to the letter”.

“Americans have the FBI, state police and the county police, but what do we have here?”

He, however, said that the Nigerian Constitution is part of the obstacle that is recklessly disturbing the growth of the country, adding that Tinubu should revisit the report of 2014 Constitutional Conference where all decisions taken were unanimous.

On the economy, George opined that “it is simple economics that when you have too much money chasing fewer goods, it leads to hyper inflation”.

He questioned the rationale behind the creation of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, adding that working without data is not the best for the country.

George also criticised former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as the first culprit.

He said it was unthinkable that a Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Osinbajo’s repute will be going to the market to share money in the guise of trader money and market money.

The PDP chieftain, who admitted that the economic crisis in Nigeria is global, opined that subsidies on electricity and other essentials that will cut across all strata of the populace would cushion the effect of the downturn in the economy, “rather than sharing money without data”

He also suggested a meeting with retired military officers to gain from their experiences on how to tackle the menace.

Some of them include Generals Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Theophilus Danjuma, Mohammed Gusau and others.

He said: “The insecurity in the land is no longer a party affair. It is no longer a Tinubu problem. From the North to South, East to West, nobody is safe again.

“This is the time for Tinubu to urgently meet retired military chiefs. He needs their help. This is also the time to deploy technology. All these characters kidnapping and killing people all over the place are not as powerful as the government.

“We have seen how technology is being used to deal with enemies of state in other countries. We must use same here to deal with enemies of Nigerians. Nigerians are no longer safe in their country. This is no longer acceptable.

“There is a need to deploy technology and train the military boys on how to handle modern equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).

“The military is usually designed to take care of external enemies. But when the level of insurgency is beyond the police to contain, there is what we call ‘Aid to civil power’. It’s a special military operation to assist the police in quelling insurgency. The security challenge now is horrendous, and there is a need to use modern weapons such as drones. ‘Gramatology’ can no longer help. Let’s train our boys (military) in the use of modern equipment.”

George, who described the gruesome murder of two traditional rulers in Ekiti as ‘sacrilegious’, said “it is time to have a state police”.

The new governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo says he has not created the ” Office of the Immediate Past Governor” to be domiciled in the Government House as being rumoured in some quarters.

Ododo made the rebuttal in a statement issued on Tuesday in Lokoja by his Chief Press Secretary, Oladele Nihi.

Ododo described the publication as mischievous, fake and laughable.

“The laughable report was concocted to create disaffection and mislead the public but the authors failed woefully to confuse intelligent Nigerians,” the governor said.

The statement reads thus :  ” The attention of the Kogi State Government has been drawn to a mischievous report that the Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, has approved the establishment of the “Office of the Immediate Past Governor” to be domiciled in the Government House.

The fake news should be disregarded as the handiwork of psychotic mischief makers, who have been thrown into confusion by the unprecedented achievements of our former Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, CON, and the realisation that the good people of Kogi State sincerely appreciate this.

“The laughable report was concocted to create disaffection and mislead the public but the authors failed woefully to confuse intelligent Nigerians.

“We thank the media for exercising restraint and detecting, on their own, that the report was fake.

“We, however, urge the general public to always fact-check before spreading fake news.”.

I WILL be surprised if truthfully, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, is surprised by the exit of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic from the organisation.

The countries had in a joint statement on Sunday, January 29, 2024 announced on their state television stations, an immediate withdrawal, alleging that ECOWAS had “moved away from the ideals of its founding fathers and pan-Africanism.”

In an obvious reference to an initial threat by ECOWAS to militarily invade Niger and restore civilian rule, the troika claimed: “Furthermore, ECOWAS, under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles, has become a threat to its member states and its populations whose happiness it is supposed to ensure.

claimed that while pursuing punitive sanctions against them, ECOWAS “… notably failed to assist these states in their existential fight against terrorism and insecurity.”

The Commission’s unserious response was that it is “… yet to receive any direct formal notification from the three member states about their intention to withdraw from the Community”.

The withdrawal is not an “intention” as ECOWAS claims, but a done deal as the three countries made public and formal statements withdrawing from ECOWAS. It is another matter if they decide not to bother sending a formal withdrawal notification to ECOWAS. I am not sure there is any court or power that can force the countries to give the mandatory one year notice of withdrawal.

Also, ECOWAS seeks to give the impression that it was caught off guard by the decision of the troika. This is not good for the image of the Commission because the three countries had in the past four months clearly shown by their deeds and utterances, that they are leaving ECOWAS.

For instance, on September 16, 2023, they announced the formation of what was essentially a parallel commission called the Alliance of Sahel States, ASS (French: l’Alliance des États du Sahel, AES).

The announced objectives of the ASS include mutual defense, economic and monetary union and a common currency called Sahel. These three objectives are in fact, more concrete than those of ECOWAS which after 49 years of existence, has no defence pact, is still far from being an effective economic union, and whose common currency, the ECO, is virtually stillbirth. So, with the ASS in place, how can ECOWAS be surprised by the formal exit of those countries?

Three days before the announced withdrawal, an ECOWAS Ministerial Mission to Niamey, Niger Republic, to discuss the future of the country with the ruling junta did not show up. ECOWAS blamed this on technical issues with the aircraft it had chartered. It speaks volumes about the competence of ECOWAS that there was no alternative arrangement for such an important delegation after the Ministers might have flown to Abuja from their various countries.

The withdrawal of the three countries, whose size constitutes 54 per cent of the total ECOWAS landmass, should call for a state of emergency, including an Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State.

even if the reasons the countries have given for the withdrawal are self-serving, ECOWAS ought to look into them, respond accordingly and take immediate steps to mend the cracks. The Commission folding its hands, waiting for the mandatory one-year withdrawal notice, is not a viable option. This is more so, when there is a high probability of Guinea, another member country under military rule, joining the new alliance.

If the ASS thrives, the possibility of more countries in the region joining it is high. If that were to be the case, ECOWAS would split into two and some countries may have one leg each in the two regional bodies.

In truth, ECOWAS suffers from lack of focus, vision and strategic thinking. In 2017, it bogged itself down with the completely unnecessary intrigues of whether or not Morocco, a country in North Africa, should be admitted into its fold.

ECOWAS sanctions against regimes ought to be handled in such a way that it would not adversely affect the collective fight against terrorism which envelops countries like Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad. Simply shutting in Niger, isolating it, imposing punitive sanctions, including food and electricity, and wanting to invade it, was not a wise decision.

ECOWAS has failed to even discuss, not to talk of addressing the fundamental issues of France imposing its will on French-speaking ECOWAS countries, nakedly exploiting them, compelling them to under- sell their commodities, and forcing a currency regime on them.

Again ECOWAS seems to have a very narrow view of democracy as an electoral process to the exclusion of good governance and service delivery, as well as the welfare and security of the people.

Even its view of constitutional rule is parochial, as it does not take on board elected political leaders who rape the constitution. For instance, Cote d’Ivoire President, Alassane Ouattara, is on an illegal third term in office. His fellow pro-France friend, President Macky Sall of Senegal, tried to run for an unconstitutional third term which threw the country into chaos. Only an uprising stopped Blaise Campore from a third term in Burkina Faso, while the Guinean President Alpha Conde was ousted from office in September 2021, after he forced an unconstitutional third term on the populace.

Today, there are protests in Guinea Bissau against the government shutting down the National Peoples Assembly. As usual, ECOWAS has turned a blind eye, would not discuss such unconstitutional steps, and is unlikely to call the government to order.

So, there is an urgent need for ECOWAS to look inwards, refocus, rebuild and set goals, including greater trade amongst members, monetary and economic integration, common currency, and a defence pact. It also needs to aggregate the interests of the region and defend them against external interests. Most importantly, it needs to move from the Assembly of Heads of State with a tokenistic parliament and a court whose decisions are hardly respected to a union of peoples with sovereignty over all powers in the region.

Nigeria, whose population constitutes about half the 420 million people in West Africa and accounts for 77 per cent of its trade, is best placed to lead the ECOWAS reforms. However, it must first think clearly beyond its illusionary beliefs in so-called market forces, make governance people-driven than elite-centred, and be governed by monetary politics. It also needs to be independent of all countries no matter how powerful, rich or seemingly benevolent.

If Nigeria gets it right, West Africa is likely to get it right; if Nigeria is not shamed, ECOWAS will not be shamed. The cracks in ECOWAS need to be mended, not widened.