A former Theatre Commander of Operation Lafia Dole, Major-General Rogers Nicolas (Rtd), has said the local government chairmen and traditional rulers in the five council areas where, Lukarawa, a new terror group, is operating, should be held accountable.
Major General Nicolas said the council chairmen and traditional rulers in the five local government areas in Sokoto State failed in their duties.
Speaking, on Friday, on Arise TV, Nicolas noted that the council chairmen have vigilantes and hunters as their means of gathering intelligence.
He explained that negligence caused a lack of intelligence gathering by the council and traditional rulers’ authorities.
“It is shocking to hear that a terror group (Lukarawa) has been operating in our country for over six years and nobody is mentioning about it. Five local governments affected, what are the local government chairmen doing? The local governments have their own local-level security outfits, vigilantes, hunters.
“They are supposed to gather information as their own local intelligence; including the traditional ruler in these areas what have they been doing?” Nicolas said.
He continued, “So these are the issues we talk about in security in this country, people just take it with pinch of salt, thinking that everything just boils down on the military. The military will only come in when these things are properly established and we have a good intelligence to carry out our operations.
“So the local government authorities in the places should be held accountable for what has happened, for delaying information on these things. And then the traditional rulers within the same area should be held accountable also.
“The locals have a major role to play in these issues. There are hunters and vigilantes in these areas whenever you go there you see them but what are they doing? Who is passing information to authorities for us to use it and plan our operations?”
The former Theatre Commander of Operation Lafia Dole also called out police in the 5 local governments for being unable to gather intelligence on the activities of the bandits. He also regretted Nigeria’s porous border system in the North East.
