…Says Without LG Autonomy, Insecurity Won’t End
A former Commissioner for Lands and Survey in Benue State, Surveyor John Tondu, has accused state governors of destroying governance at the Local Government level, thereby contributing to the rising insecurity across the country.
He said there would be no end to the ravaging insecurity unless full autonomy is granted to Local Government councils in the country.
Tondu, a former governorship aspirant on the platform of PDP, who spoke in Abuja on Wednesday on the state of insecurity in the nation said, “Today, most of the time, the governors will blame the federal government, and the reasons for blaming the federal government will be that the federal government is the one in control of security agencies.
“A lot of them will clamour and advocate for independent policing at state levels, but the real issue of security, today, if the governors decide that there should be no insecurity in this country, there will be no insecurity.
“The governors are actually responsible for the insecurity that is happening in the country, and the reason is very simple: the third tier of government, which is the local government, is not working. The president, in his own wisdom, through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, went to court to grant autonomy to the local government system.
According to him, “There is only one thing that keeps the 36 governors of this country together, and that is to ensure that the third tier of government doesn’t work.
“When it comes to that, all the 36 governors speak in one voice, because they feel their interest is threatened if the third tier of government is allowed to function, which is the closest to the people.
“So, if today the 36 governors come together for the interests of the citizens of the country whom they have elected to serve them, insecurity will end. But as long as the third tier of government is not properly functioning, the insecurity, no matter what efforts the security agencies will put in, they will not be able to address this issue of insecurity.
“The truth is the third tier of government has collapsed- the governors have refused to allow local governments to function. That is the main reason for the insecurity that we are having in this country today”.
Dismissing the clamour for state police, John Tondu, who served as a commissioner under them Governor Gabriel Suswam said “The reason for the clamour for state police by the governors would just be to use it to haunt their political enemies.
“If you look at the posture of governors in the country today, and you empower them to have state police, it therefore means that democracy itself will fail to exist in Nigeria as a country.
“So, Nigeria as a country is not ripe for state police because the people whom we elected as our leaders, lack the temperament to allow them to set up their independent policy. It will just become a tool to haunt political enemies”
While commending President Bola Tinubu for his efforts in instituting local government autonomy, Surveyor Tondu noted that since we are practising democracy, the president cannot compel the governors to obey the ruling of the courts but the citizenry should take their destiny in their hands.
He said “When the president went to the highest court in the country but we are in a democratic society. There is little that the president can do. The president has gone to the court and the court has given judgment.
“It is left for we, the citizens of this country, to amplify the efforts of the president in addressing and solving the needs of the third tier of government.
“By the time the governors begin to realise that the people are becoming aware and that if they don’t allow the third tier of government to function, the people will revolt against them. They will begin to allow the third tier of government to function.
“So, the president has done his own part. It is the citizens of Nigeria that will take over from what the president has done.? We are in a democratic society. There is little that the president has done. The president has gone to the court.
Speaking on the blame game between the Benue and Nasarawa state governments over the continuous attacks in Benue, the former commissioner admitted that “The government of Nasarawa state shared in the blame, but that is not completely the real situation that it is.
“Like I said earlier, if the local governments are functional, be it in Nasarawa, be it in Benue, be it in Borno, be it in Kano, be it in Katsina, insecurity will be tackled.
“But you see, people blame the government of Nasarawa state just because when this attack happened, the government of Nasarawa state reacted towards it, they don’t even show empathy.
“The lack of empathy is the reason why they are being blamed. But it is not that the Nasarawa state government is directly responsible for what is happening in Benue, because these are criminal elements. They come from different parts of the country. They come together to execute.
“But if there is an intelligence gathering and that intelligence is provided to the Nasarawa state government to know where these people come from to their state and they fail to act on it, they will share in the blame because they have that intelligence at their disposal and refuse to act”, he stated.
