The peace dialogue organised by the Interfaith Initiative for Peace and other socio-cultural organisations under the aegis of Committee of Goodness of Nigeria (CGN), was, yesterday, forced into a closed-door session ..
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In basic political science, it is well internalized by students that the foremost function of government is the protection of the lives and property of citizens. This function is true for all systems of government. It is as true for constitutional governments as it is for monarchical rules and even illegitimate governments. Providing security is, therefore, the first function of any state. Even the very survival of the state itself depends on adequate security. That explains why one of the first assignments of an emergent state is to build a formidable military force, at least formidable enough to wield a monopoly of coercive authority within the territorial space it calls its own. Although in a democratic state, the dialogue between human rights, personal freedoms, and the need for security remains an inconclusive conversation, it is, however, axiomatic that when human rights and the very survival of the state clash, the latter always most certainly triumphs.
Where is Murtala Nyako?
On 16th April 2014, the Northern Governors Forum met in Kaduna to discuss the security challenge facing the region at the time. Three days later, Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd), then Governor of Adamawa State, released a memo he presented at the session titled ‘On-Going Full-Fledged Genocide in Northern Nigeria’. In the poorly written, long-winding memo, Nyako accused the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan of using “mass murderers/cut-throats imbedded in our legitimate and traditional Defence and Security organizations” to carry out ‘genocide’ against the North.
It was shocking that a former Chief of Naval Staff, who had also served as governor of Niger State during the military era, would mix politics with security. But it was obvious at the time that Nyako’s ‘memo’ was a political hack job meant to portray President Jonathan in a bad light less than ten months to the general election. Sadly, rather than calling him to order, Nyako
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