Human rights activist and politician Omoyele Sowore has attributed Nigeria’s persistent insecurity to a fundamental leadership deficit, arguing that the absence of coordinated direction from the top has left security agencies operating without synchronization.
In an interview on Channels TV, Sowore rejected the notion that Nigeria’s security challenges are too complex to address, placing responsibility squarely on leadership failures.
“So many people want to make us feel that the insecurity in the country is some Byzantine affair, you know, that you just don’t know where to hold it from. But what’s been lacking, and as I’ve always said it is leadership, and when you talk about leadership it means that there’s somebody at the top who is giving direction, directives and who is organizing, who is synchronizing all the pieces regarding security,” Sowore stated.
He described the current state of affairs as characterized by fragmentation and dysfunction. “That’s missing and what you just then have is different sections of the security agencies in the country doing whatever they want and whatever they like and this is fueled by incompetence, is fed by corruption and it’s fed by their inability to work together,” the activist explained.
Sowore then pointed to what he described as a stunning example of the leadership vacuum, referencing reported US military operations on Nigerian soil. “So you can imagine till today Nigeria was bombed by the US on 24th of December, we woke up to it on the 25th, they call it a Christmas day gift to Nigeria. Nobody at the highest level of security in the country, including the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has come out to tell you what happened. Where did the bombs land? Who did they target? Was there any mop-up operation after that?” he demanded.
He concluded by questioning the tactical competence of recent military operations. “All you heard is that there’s bombardment in Sokoto and the bad guys just moved down to Niger. How do you bombard people not making preparation for where they’ll go next and how to ensure that they don’t get past the perimeter that you must have put in place for them,” Sowore asked.
(Start watching the video from minutes 3:49 to 4:15)
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