Governors Are Figure Heads Chief Security Officers – Gov. Ishaku

Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has lamented the inability of state governors in Nigeria to have the control of the security agencies in their respective states. Ishaku boasted that if he was in control of the police, he would have been able to root out insecurity in the State, even as he appealed to the government at the centre to be fair to opposition states in terms of security.

The Governor made this assertion Wednesday, while receiving his Gombe state counterpart, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who paid him a courtesy visit in Government House Jalingo. According to Ishaku, the government at the centre should provide security to opposition states and also described as ironical the appellation of governors as chief security officers of their states without having to control the security agencies.

"We swore as leaders to defend the lives and properties of Nigerians. Unfortunately we are given the powers as chief security officers. We have the crown without the cap. How can you be the chief security officer when you don’t control the power that goes with it? I always believe if I have the police under me, I will not have the troubles at all because I would have rooted all the crimes" he said.

While reliving his experience in the state, he said that the sad moments are more than the happy moments largely due to insecurity and added by saying that what he saw in the country was a foreign ‘militia group’ terrorising the country. Ishaku described his relationship with Dankwambo as cordial and symbiotic in the interest of PDP and that the visit was a ‘landmark of love’ and a tonic. Earlier in his remarks, Gov. Dankwambo stated that the most important aspect of governance was not the provision of infrastructure but the protection of lives and property.

He sympathized with Gov. Ishaku over the recent loss of lives in the State and the poor economic situation he found himself while also commending him for a job well done. He then called on President Buhari to put in more resources in the Northeast in order to address the security issues, noting that the region was at the threshold of either ending the crises or escalating it and that it could go either way.