Major-General Obi Umahi is the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division Nigerian Army. In this interview monitored on Channels Television, the chairman, South-East Security Committee speaks on the new security outfit formed by South-East governors, rising insecurity in the region, the framework of Ebubu Agu security outfit, among others. ANAYO EZUGWU reports

You have once said that southeast governors had concluded plans to set up a security outfit and now they have announced Ebubu Agu as the new outfit. From your understanding, could you let us into what this entails?

I think there was a committee earlier that included the attorney generals of the five southeast states that came up with a framework. I guess the governors have studied this framework over time before concluding on the veracity of making the announcement they made in Owerri some days ago. I think the next thing they need to do is to get the state assemblies to promulgate a law concerning this particular outfit. And once that is done then everything will roll out.

Looking at the time that was taken before this was announced, many thought that the legal aspect of it was being sorted out before this announcement but it appears not. Does that mean that their hands were forced as a result of what was playing out in the region?

Well, responding to security threats is one. Secondly, I guess there was so much that went in the background because issues of security are not rushed into. There was some level of diplomatic networking that the governors needed to do to be on the same page. And I guess they feel that they have satisfied all they needed to know to work together and that is why they rolled this out. I don’t think someone somewhere forced their hands but they are reading the security situation in the southeast like other people and they feel that the alert has been raised so they needed to act. And they have acted promptly.

You said the attorney generals are working to ensure that the legal details are finalized alongside the state assemblies. Does that mean that until this is done that announcement will be just an announcement?

I think everything is going on at the same time. There are certain things that can be going on simultaneously. So, while the attorney generals are finetuning the bill to submit to the state assemblies, and I guess because the state assemblies are part of the society and system, so that would not take them a lot of time to come up with a law.

But from your understanding, why does it have to take so much for the state assemblies to finalize this?

I said that one thing you can give the governors is that they may have been networking in order to reach the current ground on all issues. Issues of security are a little bit sensitive and again consider the fact that the governors of the southeast have contributed so much to the stability of the polity of the nation by withholding some actions and doing one thing or the other in order to help the stability of this nation. I guess that all these add up to what someone may call delay but I don’t think that strategically speaking that it was a delay. I think so many things were going on in the background that was not known to many and that is why they are acting at this particular time.

But on one hand just as you said the attorney generals are working on the document but on the other hand what we understand is that it is a joint security outfit. Does that mean that it is just one central coordinating organization that is in charge of security in the entire southeast states, that is Ebube Agu or Ebube Agu in different states?

It is Ebube Agu in each of the different states. There will be a central command and coordinating centre that will help to share information, that will help to acquire some security assets as may be permitted by the federal government. Such assets may be difficult financially speaking for one state to acquire. But when all the five states come together they would be able economically speaking to acquire such equipment with the approval of the federal government. So there will be a central command and coordinating centre but each of the states will be responsible for the security of their various states without prejudice to this, the vigilante in Enugu State could support that of Ebonyi State, Ebonyi State could support that of Abia State, just the same should there be any need for such support. But sincerely speaking the coordinating centre will begin some security awareness like information sharing. It will also serve as an alarm system, which the governors have stated that it would be located in Enugu.

Does that support entail that vigilante in Ebonyi can cross into Owerri?

Why not, we are the same just artificial boundaries that separated us otherwise we are the same people.

One of the things that raise a question in people’s mind is, have we been able to track the causes of insecurity upsurge in the southeast now?

Why not, we all have been watching developments in the security sector especially as it affects the southeast. In the part southeast was the most secure, the most peaceful region in the entire country but like we all know there was a recent attack in Ebonyi State by herdsmen, attack in Enugu and then the Correctional Centre jailbreak and burning of police headquarters at Owerri. So these have raised the security alert in the southeast warranting the governors to take the action they have just taking to set up this security framework for the southeast.

There are a number of things people need to understand about the exact nature and the shape that Ebubu Agu is going to take?

Like I earlier said, there will be a command and control centre at its headquarters at Enugu and each of the states will have their Ebubu Agu structured in a way that could aid quick mobilization, deployment and operations. So that structure in each state will be replicated in all other state but each state would be able to carry head security duties, doing everything possible to ensure security in coordination with the federal security agencies. As Ebonyi State is doing its own, Enugu, Imo, Abia and Anambra would be doing theirs simultaneously. And the centre will help to pass information, develop a good alarm system that can be used in all the states. Like I said earlier the coordinating centre will also help to operate some equipment that can only be centralized by the entire southeast. So each state will still operate on its own but there could overlap and support if the need arises.

For a lot of people, they remember Amotekun as soon as they heard Ebube Agu. Is it similar in any way to Amotekun?

They are similar in some ways but the truth is that Amotekun as it stands now does not central command and control centre. And I do not know whether they share information. And I have not heard of crossbounder support in the Amotekun operations. But this is going to be the case in that of southeast security outfit and that tells you that a lot of time has been spent, some details worked out, put into it through the period people felt it was a period of inaction. There were actions going on during this period to fine-turn and be on the same page on virtually all issues so that the operations as it is rolled out would be seamless.

The timing is this is very interesting just a few days after the nation got a new acting IGP. I recalled that southeast governors had meetings with the former IGP, so to what extent is the new acting IGP being carried along in this whole process?

That is a very interesting question. Let me tell you that unlike in the past, the governors of today have been doing what I can call diplomatic politicking because they believe in the Nigerian project. They believe that we are better off staying together in one big Nigeria than going into splinters. They have been doing everything to contribute their quota in retaining the peace and unity of this nation. They have not been involved in statements to overheat the system but that is not to say that they have not been fully concerned with the security of the southeast. What they have achieved is that they have used penetration, networking and diplomacy to gain support for the southeast security framework from the police, security agencies and the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Because they have seen the need for regional security outfits, after all, the joint civilian security outfit in the northeast is all about this same thing. And the federal government has helped to sponsor them, integrate them into what they are doing to fight terrorism in the northeast. So I guess the federal government has seen the need for various regional security outfit and they are not against it. And I give kudos to the governors for the networking they did and the diplomatic penetration they carried out in order not to be at loggerhead and have a level of misunderstanding with the federal government. Everybody supports that security in one part of Nigeria is security for the whole nation. I guess there is nobody who is against the security outfit of the southeast.

Specifically, is the new acting IGP in support of this outfit?

That is what the governors have extracted from the entire security agencies in Nigeria.

That is to say that the new acting IGP is not involved in this directly?

I’m not saying that. I said the southeast governors have extracted support, in any case, what the regional security will do is to help and support the federal security agencies succeed in their constitutional roles. I think every misunderstanding has been based on a lack of understanding of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The constitution says that a governor is the chief security officer of his state and that implies that every governor can employ every constitutional means to ensure that there is security in his state. More so because the federal security agencies are not under the governors and so the governors must make their own local arrangement to provide security to meet up to the responsibility the constitution has conferred on them, which the people as a matter of fact are expecting them without a precondition to meet. I think there is a lack of understanding of the constitution and what responsibility the constitution has conferred on the governors. (New Telegraph)

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