By Kennedy Nnamani
ROY Oamien Okhidievbie, the National secretary of the Retired Members of the Armed Forces and national Public Relation Officer of the Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria has raised alarm that the Nigerian security agencies have been infiltrated by moles.
Delivering a lecture with the theme: Leadership Roles and Security Challenges in Nigeria at the 22nd Annual Security, Leadership Outlook and National Integrity Award on Friday in Lagos, Okhidievbie stated that tribalism, ethnicity and religion have been used to neutralize security agencies in the country.
“We have seen all our agencies being infiltrated by molls. Soldiers are now selling guns; something we cannot try in our time; if one bullet gets missing, we don’t come back from that parade but now you see soldiers selling guns, escorting drugs, you see NDLEA and police fight over drug investigating. You see the judiciary, NBA, Nigerian Bar Association, fighting over food in their own event,” he said.
According to him, there are incidents where police officers arrest criminals and the same criminals will call them the following week to threaten the officers who made the arrest.
In the same vein, Okhidievbie, who is the CEO of August Eye, and had served 26 years in the military’s Special Forces with specialty in General Investigations, Security Awareness and Information Dissemination, alleged that people now pay to be impersonated to serve their jail terms in the correctional centres.
“Go to the prison, you will see people in prison that are staying for somebody,” he said. “Prison now, you can pay somebody to go to prison for you. If they deny it, come and arrest me,” he said.
While speaking on leadership and integrity, Okhidievbie, who was an awardee, noted that the major cause of insecurity is lack of integrity and leadership. He lamented that justice has taken sides in Nigeria and that is why Nigerians usually resort to jungle justice.
“If you want to see leadership, you must present the facts and outline consequences,” he said.
He also bemoaned that the elites adopt various vices in order to separate themselves high from the common masses.
“Ethnicity, religion and all the other vices have been used by the elites to separate themselves from the manipulated. There are people that have been classified as manipulated.
“If you are not a relative bloodline to those that have direct connection to the resources of Nigeria, you are just on your own; you will kill yourselves, squander yourselves, disturb your community and we will not hear any kind of compromise from the elites,” he said.
While calling on Nigerians to make the best choice in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, the veteran officer enjoined all citizens to collectively invite Nigeria back by voting their conscience.
He said: “In Nigeria today we are grateful that 2023 is an opportunity. Do you have your PVC? Are you ready to go out and vote your conscience?
“If they give you N10,000, separate the money into two pockets; 5,000 here and 5,000 here. When you do that, you vote your conscience.
“If they stop you on the way, you give them N5,000 and take N5,000 back to your house. That is the best thing to do now instead of selling our next 4 years,” he added.
KN
