As the 2023 presidential election approaches, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the National Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), on Wednesday said President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor will have to do a lot of work to re-securing Nigeria.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that writing in his weekly column, the elder statesman said retrieving the nation from the edge will be a major task for the next administration.
“Obviously, the country cannot regain lost ground in securing the citizen with the resources at its disposal.
“It has to make massive improvements in its defense and security assets,” Baba-Ahmed wrote.
“There is also the problem that some of the threats to our security will be difficult to speak to.
“Boko Haram/ ISWAP have dug into enclaves around communities, and ‘peace’ will mean little to it. What can we offer it? Should you speak with Nnamdi Kanu, other factions and muscles and guns that are factions of IPOB about the Biafran cause? What can you offer them to walk away and sin no more? Will the identity of the next president make a difference to the disposition of those championing secessionist ideas?
“How do you sit with dozens of bandit leaders and convince them that there is a better life outside the forests and crimes? How do you reward those who negotiate and submit to peace, against those who insist on making our lives more insecure?
“The real challenge is whether the next president can re-secure Nigerians using strategies, resources , experiences and insights that will reduce our exposure to organised violence within the shortage period practicable.”
