Armed Forces Bill: Understanding Abaribe's concerns by Idoko Ainoko (Opinion)
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Editor's note: Idoko Ainoko, a public affairs commentator based in Kaduna writes on the new Armed Forces Commission Bill proposed by the ninth Senate.
Ainoko suggests that the country cannot leave sensitive decisions on national security in the hands of multitudes as the Senate is contemplating.
Every system and in all political dispensations, there are enough spoilers and destroyers. The professional sabs stop at nothing to rock the boat even where the circumstances resist.
There are people who hate progress and invent all antics to ensure progress is interrupted. Their only joy is when they cause confusion.
Nigeria has a fair share of such people. And unfortunately, they are also found in the corridors of power and they use such positions to pursue personalized agenda at the detriment of the nation. Nigeria’s most urgent challenge now is the insecurity.
But it is glaring that there is no meaning approach or suggestions to assist the President and Heads of security agencies overcome the challenge of insecurity. Most Nigerians are out to weaken the attempts by the President to surmount our security challenges.
Source: UGC
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And the National Assembly has many of such Nigerians who are opposed to President Buhari’s stringent actions on security. I can argue conveniently and boldly with Nigeria’s best of political Socrates that since 1999 the National Assembly (NASS) has been Nigeria’s greatest incumbrance on the country’s progressive match to peace and prosperity.
NASS has consistently affirmed itself as the static and haunting nightmare of the country’s match to a stable or vibrant democracy, good governance and progressive development. Every evil plan against Nigeria is hatched through NASS which they usually back with pristine laws.
The negative shadows of NASS are too overflowing and have overshadowed any modicum of respect or honour it has ever earned on credibility as an important institution of government in a democracy.
I am not hesitant to say, NASS has marketed itself as an institution which also deserves an independent body to monitor it’s sinister and destructive activities in the nation.
The National Assembly is currently deliberating on a law christened “Nigerian Armed Forces Commission Bill 2019.”
The Bill is sponsored by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe from Abia state. The law seeks to dissolve all the powers constitutionally vested in the president in hiring and firing his service chiefs.
The powers which presently resides with the president are transferred to the Commission whose composition comprises politicians and National Assembly members.
It is difficult to understand the direction or intention of the proposed Bill. It is hogwash in every sense. It is the most senseless Bill ever contemplated in Nigeria or known to any country in the world.
Outside its obvious aberration, I see it as a duplication hence existing laws already empowers the Senate to confirm service chiefs nominated by the president.
So, what do the Senators want to do to Nigeria with that Bill?
What the Senator Ahmad Lawan-led Senate is attempting to do by the Armed Forces Commission is to politicize and weaken the management of national security.
It is a masked attempt to polarized the Nigerian military and make it susceptible to the mercy of politicians to recklessly manipulate. This is how we consciously embark on actions that are capable of destroying our country.
The senators themselves know that such a Bill is irrational and destructive to the security architecture of the nation.
But a lot of Nigerians are comfortably silent because the darts are directed at a president they hate. But they have forgotten that President Muhammadu Buhari will not remain Nigeria’s president forever. Every Nigerian knows the Armed Forces Commission Bill will spell doom for the country if allowed to scale through the legislature.
The contents of the Bill overtly endanger the future of Nigeria because it is a sure way of polarizing the Nigerian Armed forces which will begin to function by the dictates of political parties and politicians. This is not permitted anywhere. We cannot leave sensitive decisions on national security in the hands of multitudes as the Senate is contemplating.
I am convinced that this is not justifiable. It surprises me that members of the Senate are hypnotized and hoodwinked by Senator Abaribe into believing such a destructive and worthless Bill is worth their attention and energy to the point of debating.
It is not possible for one nation to have two Commanders-In-Chief. The Bill seeks to create two Commanders-In-Chief for Nigeria.
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