More than 30 security experts drawn from the academia, private and public sector, para-military organizations, and the ECOWAS Court of Justice have appealed to the federal government to release Nnamdi Kanu and other political prisoners in the country as a way of consolidating national peace and cohesion.
The forum of security experts under the aegis of the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies (ISSS), made the call in a Communique at the end of their 6th annual security executive conference in Calabar, with the theme; Nigeria’s Security Challenges: Panacea for Socio-Economic Development.
The communique was signed by the Board Secretary of the Institute, Prof. Azeez Olaniyan and Richard Kalu of the Department of State Security Services, DSS, and two others.
Parts of the Communique read: “Factors responsible for separatist agitations in Nigeria include feelings of marginalization, faulty 1999 constitution that has not made it possible for the states to fulfill their role as component federating units.
“We recommend for provision of basic amenities to the people to stem high insecurity, nepotism and ineptitude of leaders, poverty, unemployment, amongst others,
“We recommend high-level vigilance, and community policing to reduce the vulnerability to kidnapping.
“We call for strengthening of Joint Taskforce, Inter-agency security meetings and briefing, training and capacity building of personnel.
“Developing a seamless communication network amongst agencies and strengthening national security strategies.”
Speaking during the conference, a former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paddy Ogon, stated that should the federal government heed their clarion call, the nation would be in a proper position to bounce back to its feet once again.
Ogon stated that the essence of the security stakeholders conference was to identify security challenges bedeviling the nation and to device strategies for addressing them.
