Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), has asserted that certain politicians are taking advantage of, and even aggravating, insecurity in the country for political gain, stressing that Nigeria’s security issues are too intricate to pin on a single factor.
Irabor shared these views in a Monday interview on Channels Television, where he broke down the different layers of criminal activity driving violence in various regions.
His remarks follow closely after presidential aide Daniel Bwala stated that the Federal Government is preparing to publicly identify people funding terrorism.
Discussing the complicated nature of Nigeria’s security environment, Irabor warned against broad claims that classify all violent events under a single label.
He noted that the nation is confronted with numerous types of security threats — ideological, criminal, political and economic — all unfolding at the same time.
“You can’t hold people for their views, but the reality is that our issues in terms of security challenges are multifaceted,” he said.
“Just as we have terrorists who have an ideology, we equally have those who are bent on targeting Christians, and there are also those who are targeting communities, desiring to displace communities and wanting to stay in those communities to be able to have a voice.”
He pointed out that various violent groups — from terrorists and bandits to those displacing communities and committing economic crimes — pursue different goals, making the situation hard to generalise.
“If you lump the entire thing into one, the analysis would be wrong,” he said.
Responding to claims that all insecurity is politically driven, the former defence chief conceded that while political interests do play a role, they do not explain every case.
“Those who say it is political, that would also be lumping all the issues to say all other issues do not matter — that’s also not correct,” he noted.
He, however, acknowledged that some political actors have exploited insecurity for their own benefit.
“That does not mean some politicians have not taken advantage of the insecurity to perhaps gain some sort of leverage; to give the impression that they can do better,” he said.
“Others perhaps want to score a point that there’s poor governance; they could also instigate crisis in one way or the other,” he added.
