There have been coordinated and planned attacks on military, police formations and correctional centres. Yemi Adebowale did not call for the removal of minister of defence or police affairs. Yemi Adebowale hated Aregbesola as governor of Osun State and he has been a paid agent of the opposition in Osun State.Yemi Adebowale is mischievous and purblind about recent security and correctional service developments. Yemi Adebowale used Thisday Newspaper platform to fight Aregbesola as governor of Osun State. The management of Thisday Newspaper should be careful about the character of Yemi Adebowale because he is always a paid agent of the devil. Yemi Adebowale is ignorant of the security situation and spate of security challenges in the country. He is not reasonable and patriotic. He has no sense of worry and concern. More worrisome is Yemi Adebowale negative criticism of Aregbesola.
Yemi Adebowale is unaware that of late, there had been series of attacks on military, police and correctional centres facilities. The gory attacks on police stations and other government institutions are launched to strike fear. There are only twelve jailbreaks in five years compare to thousands of attacks on military and police facilities. There are more attacks on military and police facilities than correctional centres. Adebowale is ignorant of the fact that the military and police provide security for our correctional centres across Nigeria. Correctional centres are not operating in isolation. We can count the attacks on correctional centres but the attacks on military and police facilities are countless.
The attacks on Nigeria Defence Academy, correctional centres etc are part of security challenges facing Nigeria. Nigeria is faced with an unprecedented wave of different but overlapping security crises – from kidnapping to extremist insurgencies – almost every corner of the country has been hit by violence and crime and these pose a great danger to our correctional centres. The scale of the insecurity threatens the very fabric of Nigerian society: “With every attack, human lives are lost or permanently damaged and faith in democracy and the country is diminishing. Between 2016 and 2021 more than 3,000 prisoners/inmates have been illegally freed from Nigeria correctional centres due to coordinated attacks and security challenges. In five months, 10 correctional centres have been attacked. In November, 2020 while counting the costs of the #ENDSARS protests, Information Minister Lai Mohammed had said eight prisons were attacked, “with 1,957 inmates set free and 31 staff injured. Aregbesola became Minister of Interior in 2019 and he is working hard to prevent future attacks on correctional facilities.
Yemi Adebowale must study and ask 19 state governors in the north to as a matter of urgency study and implement Osun 2014 security architecture to tackle kidnapping and bandits. With the Osun security architecture, Rauf Aregbesola purchased Helicopter for Aerial Security Surveillance and presentation of more sophisticated 25 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) to the Nigerian Police Force, a feat that has never been achieved by any government in the 36 states. The procurement of the helicopter and the APC was the security architecture that particularly drove away many undesirable elements from the state. I challenge any state governor to prove me wrong. The lesson from Osun 2014 security strategy is that former Governor Aregbesola Strengthened the effectiveness of the Nigeria Police Force which required improving trust with local communities and better responding to citizens’ security needs. Doing so requires systemic reforms in the governance and accountability. Tackling modern security threats in Osun, then, was directly tied with improving the governance and oversight of the security sector, especially the police in Osun State. This is the security architecture President Buhari needs now in north-west and north-east.
Osun 2014 security architecture does not left issues of security at the door step of federal government but fill the gap between the security agencies. Former governor Rauf Aregbesola used the security architecture to equip and motivate the security agencies in Osun to stop armed robbery and other security challenges in Osun. Osun 2014 security architecture will assist President Buhari and northern governors to checkmate kidnapping, banditry and others. Osun 2014 security architecture will tackle terrorists in the North East, bandits in North West and Central. Nigeria has, in recent years, witnessed a rise in banditry across the country, including in the north-western states of Sokotom Zamfara and Katsina
I must blame the menace of correctional centres congestion on the nature of criminal justice system in Nigeria. Criminal justice system encompasses all the paraphernalia of justice system in Nigeria; ranging from police, court, correctional centres and other law enforcement agencies. Investigation takes about weeks or months to conclude and when a matter is concluded on investigation and brought to court for trial, if charges are not filed against them in a court of competent jurisdiction you see there will be delay. Minister of Interior is working round the clock within his constitutional powers to decongest correctional centres. Recently, Aregbesola called on the 36 states governors to sign death warrants. In recent years, there are calls for death penalty due to increase in cases of banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and terrorism. This is the time in Nigeria when we need the death sentence more than another time. Between October,2020 to date 3,000 inmates have escaped from Nigeria Correctional Service yet states governors have refused to sign death warrants of 3,008 inmates condemned by courts.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola is facing a dilemma when state governors are against calls for the signing of the death warrants for 3,008 death row inmates in correctional centres across Nigeria. The minister had on July 23 accused the state governors of delaying the wheel of justice and contributing to congestion in correctional centres by refusing to sign the death warrants.
Aregbesola is facing dilemma over what to do with the 3,008 criminals in Nigeria Correctional Centres that have been condemned to death by the courts. The silent moratorium by state governors which borders on their unwillingness to endorse death sentences of condemned criminals is a big problem to Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior.
The slow pace of justice dispensation in the country which is attributable to long and, sometimes, mischievous adjournment of cases which has led to non-dispensation of most cases thereby abandoning the inmates in prisons, inadequate funding of the judiciary, slow investigation process by the police. Unfortunately, due to the inherent lapses in the system, the correctional centres system which is supposed to be reformatory has eventually turned to punitive, thereby defeating the true essence of sending convicts to prisons. The implication of this reversed system of prison administration is that the inmates of our correctional centres come out more criminally minded than they were before conviction.
Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior is bringing reliable field-proven technology backed by professional expertise to safeguard correctional facilicities and detention centres across Nigeria within the available resources. The technology will enable guards to monitor and track inmates, detect illegal activities, isolate and control violent incidents and prevent intrusion to secure correctional centres. But finance is the major problem of Aregbesola to execute his security plans for Nigeria correctional centres.
The federal government is putting in place enhanced security measures in correctional centres, a slew of advanced equipment to further strengthen the existing arrangements. Aregbesola has planned for Security-related gadgets such as scanners, cell phone jammers and closed circuit television cameras, besides walkie-talkie sets for faster communication, have to be procured.
Alongside improving security measures, the federal government is also putting in place many innovative schemes in correctional centres aimed at rehabilitating inmates and turning them into productive citizens upon their release.
Fortifying security at correctional centres
However, the authorities of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) say they are doing everything possible within the resources that are available to fortify security at their facilities across the country. Sophisticated weapons, Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and others have been acquired to prevent further attacks. Aregbesola is working with other security agencies to prevent attacks on correctional facilities. They will provide Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and some other sophisticated weapons that can help us to fortify correctional facilities. “For intelligence gathering, the services involved have also been forthcoming. We are increasing our reach and collaboration to ensure that these incidents do not occur again. “Some of these facilities that have been attacked, they are located in areas that are now surrounded by private developers. These correctional facilities are supposed to have what we call buffer areas. And the buffer area is not supposed to be less than 200 meters round the correctional facilities.
Inwalomhe Donald writes from Abuja
