Allow Police Not Military Lead War On Terror, PSC Chairman Arase Tells Tinubu

Arase, disclosed this while receiving the Elizabeth Macleod, Police Advisor, Lake Chad Basin Support Framework of the United Kingdom High Commission in Nigeria in his office, in Abuja.

A statement issued on Sunday by the spokesperson of the PSC, Ikechukwu Ani said, Arase noted that another factor is the nation’s deradicalization programme for terrorists, which he faulted based on improper or lack of profiling.

According to him, combating internal insecurity is the responsibility of the Nigerian police, who have been “trained to secure crime scenes, gather evidence and prosecute criminals”.

He noted that such training differs from the standard operating procedures for the military.

“The Military deployed to the troubled regions in the North East,” he noted has no such training and ‘this has resulted in low rate of prosecution of offenders and a conviction rate of less than five per cent’.

“Arase said this was disproportional with arrests, adding that it does not send the right signals,” the statement quoted the PSC Chairman as saying.

He advised that the Federal Government should reduce the military component of the war against insurgency and allow the Police, the lead Agency in internal security to lead the battle.

“He noted that the Police are properly trained for internal security and leading the battle will curb the activities of the terrorists in the North East.

“He remarked that more convictions of these criminals in the North East would serve as a deterrent to others and eventually reduce the spate of crime and criminality in the region.

Nigeria’s Deradicalisation, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (DRR) programme, codenamed Operation Safe Corridor (OSC) is a complementary and non-kinetic approach established by the Nigerian government in 2016 to receive voluntary defectors of terrorists.

The programme which is a part of the nation’s strategy to degrade terror activities in the northeast has largely been greeted with criticism, and Arase in his recent statement, “observed that most of them eventually return to the crime, creating more harm for the region”.

The PSC Chairman, however, sought collaboration with the Police Advisor, Lake Chad Basin Support Framework of the UK High Commission in Nigeria, to enable the Police Force to benefit from their programme in the North East.

Ms Macleod while reacting noted that their project, funded by the UK High Commission in Nigeria and implemented by the Adam Smith International is aimed at assisting the Nigeria Police in Borno in tackling the insecurity in the state.

The chairman who also met with a delegation from the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, led by its Director General, D.I. Arabi disclosed that all modalities were in place for the commencement of Police recruitment.