 Due to the insecurity challenges the country currently faces, Katsina and Dora Emirates councils in Katsina state have suspended public activities for the forthcoming Ital Kabeh. However, the two Emirates urged residents to use the Salah period to pray for the peace in the state and in the country. And in government, the media office to the former Senate President Bukala Saraki forted claims by the presidency that the 8th Senate did not organize a security summit to tackle the challenges facing the country. He said there has been an attempt to push false narratives aimed at shifting blames of the rising insecurity challenges confronting the country on the 8th National Assembly. Well joining us to discuss this is Colonel Chinedu Ohonda. He is a former Colonel in the Nigerian Army and Peter Eggbedian who was a security expert. Thank you very much gentlemen for being part of the conversation. Thank you good evening. Great. Good evening. Colonel I'm going to start with you. So of course this claim is being tackled by the media aid of the former Senate President and he's talking about the fact that you know they actually did organize a security summit under the 8th Assembly to address insecurity. But at this point in the country, should we be talking about who had a security summit or who didn't, should we in 2021 amidst the banditry, the kidnapping, Boko Haram, cattle rustling, ethnic tensions in the North, South, East and West, should government officials and former government officials be at this point trading blames? Okay Peter if you heard me, can you take that question and then I'll ask Colonel the next question. Oh yes I heard you and Colonel sorry for the weather occurs over there. So to answer the question, I don't think it is a proper thing to be discussing at this point in time at the national level. And again the fact that the president, spokesmen, have shot themselves in the foot by speaking or what put them in correct fact or let me say alternative fact in public domain and they've been rebuttals with evidence of the truth by King's aid. It's just a simple thing to see that our presidency has been described by frivolities. If you ask me this is a frivolity, it should not be the issue right now, we are not pressing issues and it is a sad reflection of the state of our country. So Colonel Honda please respond if you can hear me. I'm asking what exactly do you think is going on with the whole back and forth on whether there was a security summit or not? Is a security summit the answer to our insecurity problems in 2021? Well as far as I'm concerned that shouldn't be what the president should be asking for for now because when you look at it he is becoming too late of what he is supposed to be supposed to be proactive in whatever. Now that this security level has reached the point whereby the bandits, the kidnappers of students are taking it as a business venture making money out of it instead of and they know the whereabouts of these people instead of them to react and see how they can get them, subdue them and crush them. They are talking of security summit, this thing and so on. Left to me that is not what we want now. We want a situation where they should be crushed because as always said that the government of this government has been pursuing shadows instead of following greed, this is the real bandits and kidnappers. They are using pursuing shadows talking of this and so on and they are not coming and so on. That is not the issue. They are not acting well. There is a little bit of a feudalism in their opinion and they are not being honest with us and with Nigeria and the law enforcement agency, that is the security apparatus know because they know where these bandits are. They are busy doing selective business because Gumi said, Sherry Gumi said that they are escorted in the lives of the police and the military escorted him to where they want to meet the bandits where he was negotiating with bandits so the army cannot explain that they don't know the whereabouts of these people. He said they are busy pursuing shadows and are lying to people to make money. Understand of the government of Kathmandu is very wrong. When they said they are not negotiating they are not doing anything. Can I come in there because you have been in the army, you understand the modus operandi and of course you obey orders. You don't ask questions. What do you think the challenge of the army is because I'm guessing and I want to I mean I'm not in any way trying to play down the gallantry of our soldiers. They have gone to different countries and they have gone for peacekeeping. They used to be known as the best south of the Sahara but what is going on right now? What do you think the challenge is for not just the soldiers but our whole security apparatus? Why is this becoming some sort of an overwhelming situation for them? When you talk of amnesty and the reviewers they cannot compare that of amnesty of the south south to that of the bandits in the north. You can't compare that and what we are saying is look these are people that have killed, they have killed several, they have abducted several, they have raped, they have named, they have done so a lot of things. So the issue of giving them amnesty for killers, brutal killers and so on, they don't come in at all. Look at what is happening in Bedouin. Look at what is happening in Karabah. Look at what is happening in Nidia and Khabibah. These are brutal people doing all sorts of things, killing people for money, making people suffer. And some people are saying no, they should give them amnesty and they should find a way of giving them and so on. So I don't succumb to that. But how does that stop the army from doing its job? Are you saying that the army is not doing its job because they are opposed to the amnesty? Or I'm trying to understand what the challenge is. Maybe Peter can help me. Peter, what do you think the challenge is? You see, you see, I stand by what Gerardanjumak said earlier on, that it's like the army is collaborating. They are collaborating with these people. And such things, you have to be very careful. That's a hefty allegation. Very hefty allegation for your constituency or your former constituency. You don't know. They are just keeping quiet, making sure that nothing happens. And including that, they are colluding, collaborating with them. So they should find a way of sorting out these things. If the government is not aware, why do you see that they are giving them so much comfort for them to operate on? And that's what we are saying. Okay. Peter, as we speak, the insecurity in Katzina state has cost for them to shut down activities or festivities for the Salah. And they're asking that prayers be said on behalf of Nigeria and the states. If the backyard of Mr. President, and I'm sure that the President is going to obviously be part of these festivities, even though they've been cancelled, he will be. If Katzina is also part of the mix and nothing has been done, and we are in July, and this is one of the fastest months in 2021, we're yet to understand if there's a plan, a strategy. We're not even seeing any pattern as to how these issues are going to be dealt with. Do we see celebrating the Yuletide in a safe and secure environment something that we can really feel and touch? Or should we just give up and hope that maybe one day things would change? I mean, because I really don't know. Where should our hopes lie right now? Well, hope is dying out. In any sense, a good person who is at this resolution would tell you that to anybody who has high hopes for a remedy to be special in the next one year, three years, in spite of being still asleep. I've heard some of the people defending Mr. Presidency that's going to take some time for their munitions and paid for to be delivered. So that is done. We just have to manage the current level of a banditry and insecurity, and that's absolutely rubbish. This is not the first time that Katzina has been on that siege by these terrorists and bandits. That's what I'd prefer to call them. I remember even in 2019, in one of the elections, this banditry was going on in Katzina. It was difficult for the president to even listen to his speech for a long time. That this is still happening, I just tell you. In fact, I believe the Dara Council and they're being very politically correct with their statement. This is also a statement to Mr. President, like, you know, we've lost faith in you. We're lucky, you know, by other means. We don't feel safe enough to celebrate the Salah festivities. In other words, we believe you're failing us. And this is just, it was just conjecture, because the way these councils or this national life are supposed to speak, not to give credit or allow the propaganda of the terrorists to also gain ground, but also pass the message across in a way that those behind the scenes will be able to understand what's happening. There are ungoverned areas where these terrorists have now become some form of governors for want of a better word than there. And they seem to be asking for people to pay taxes allegedly. And there's a lot happening. So these ungoverned spaces, these terrorists are spreading, they're spreading their tentacles. Even the governed spaces were unable to push back on these guys. My question is, if in six months we don't see a change, how do we get our leaders to step up to the plate? Because I keep asking this question all the time. How do we get these people to listen to us? How do we get them to act? Because the cost of living is rising. The insecurity is rife. People can barely afford three square meals as it is. The economy is not looking good. We're so indebted. We're poor as a country. And people still have to look for monies to bail out their friends and families or loved ones who have been abducted on a daily basis, which has now become a business that is empowering these terrorists to continue to spread. How long can we hold together? How long can we keep quiet for our governments to really come to their senses and do the job that we ask them to do? I see who the position is. I mean, to a very large extent, the government has censored the means that we to make the general populace can express its pleasure. I come now to protest which is one of the principles of democracy, or in quotes, or should be, or should be democracy. So you're saying that we're powerless as the people that we can... Means that we people can do this thing, either by social media or by coming out to protest in public. It's evidence that there is little or no means of expression of our displeasure or a lack of confidence in the country. So Peter, you're telling me that as Nigerians we're powerless to hold our leaders to account. That's what you're telling me, that we're powerless. We cannot hold our leaders to account. That's what you're telling me, that we're in a state where leaders are not answerable to us. Without missing words, yes. Without missing words, yes. The government is capital of social media and then they don't allow people to come out to protest or air their views. How can countries that are disciplined with what is happening that are asking for the right to be able to lead the current arrangement or call the government to the shooting table? They are being promoted into the ground. So it's clear that there is little or no outlets for us to be able to place our views peacefully and to put pressure on the government for them to do the right thing. So as it is, we still have to talk with the current state of things until the next election. Well, on that very sad note, I want to thank you very much. Chinadu Ahonda is a former, he's a retired colonel in the Nigerian Army and of course, Peter Bideon is a security expert. Thank you gentlemen for speaking with us. Thank you for having us. You're welcome. All right. Well, on that note, I want to thank you all for being part of the conversation tonight. Don't forget that you can join us on social media, follow us on Instagram, and you can also follow us on Facebook, but you can watch a repeat of this show on YouTube. Yes, you can go on Plus TV Africa on YouTube and watch a replay of the show. I am Marianne Colm. See you tomorrow.