Ex-Presidential Candidate Yahaya Ndu Advocates Foreign Mercenaries, State Police To Tackle Insecurity | Sahara Reporters

He said foreign security contractors should not operate independently but should work with local stakeholders who understand the communities where they would be deployed.

Former presidential candidate, Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, has advocated the deployment of foreign private mercenaries alongside state police as part of a radical overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture to tackle recurring killings in the Middle Belt and other parts of the country.

Ndu, who was the presidential candidate of the defunct African Renaissance Party (ARP), made the proposal during an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Thursday while discussing Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, economic hardship, fuel subsidy removal and the need for political restructuring.

He said foreign security contractors should not operate independently but should work with local stakeholders who understand the communities where they would be deployed.

“First of all, they are not coming to operate in isolation,” Ndu said.

He suggested that traditional rulers, religious leaders, youth leaders and women leaders should work alongside the foreign personnel and state police to provide local knowledge and oversight.

“There is no state where, if you bring these people in to work with the foreign mercenaries, you will say they don’t know the terrain, because they are working in consonance with those who are the terrain,” he said.

Ndu specifically recommended the involvement of former Niger Delta militant leader Asari Dokubo and the Buratai Research Centre in coordinating or monitoring the activities of the proposed foreign private security forces.

He said the contractors should operate under a “strict mandate” and alongside state police to confront security threats that existing local security structures may be unable to contain.

Ndu, who said he was born in Jos, Plateau State, also criticised the Federal Government’s response to recurring killings in the Middle Belt.

He said security challenges in states such as Benue could be addressed through the same decentralised security structure he proposed for other parts of the country.

“The same thing that can solve security challenges in Enugu State can solve it in Benue,” he said.

According to him, states must have security institutions that are directly accountable to the people they are responsible for protecting.

“If, first of all, you have state police that is controlled by those who are being victimized, they don’t have to ask somebody else to come and look into the matter, because they have authority to do the thing themselves,” Ndu said.

However, he argued that state police alone would not completely resolve Nigeria’s security crisis, hence his proposal for additional foreign private security capabilities.

“Not only do you do this, because all these things alone cannot solve the matter. Then you get foreign mercenaries that are not government mercenaries, foreign private mercenaries, work and pay, with strict mandate,” he said.

Ndu said the proposed system would represent a departure from what he described as Nigeria’s ineffective security structure.

“Structuralise your means of dealing with these things,” he said.

The former presidential candidate also proposed the creation of a national interactive platform through which Nigerians could continuously report and monitor security incidents.

He said the platform should enable citizens in Nigeria and abroad to monitor developments and provide information about criminal activities.

“In other words, if something terrible is happening here, and Nigerians all over Nigeria and all over the world are following it and monitoring it at the same time, it will be more difficult for the culprits to escape,” he said.

Ndu further advocated dedicated television and radio platforms where members of the public could report ongoing terrorist attacks and upload video evidence.

“I also mentioned even in that paper the innovation of establishing television and radio stations that are perpetually operating, where people can call in and report ongoing terrorist activities, where people can call in and upload videos of insecurity activities happening,” he said.

“The more you expose acts of insecurity, the more you are able to subdue them.”

He added: “Most crimes happen in darkness. When you make the operation of criminal activities open to all…”

On Nigeria’s economic crisis, Ndu dismissed the debate over whether the Federal Government should restore fuel subsidy, arguing that the issue would not arise if Nigeria properly utilised its crude oil resources and developed local refining capacity.

“To me as a person, it’s an insult on the collective intelligence of we Nigerians and Africans and the Black race for us to be talking about whether you should bring back fuel subsidy or not,” he said.

Ndu argued that Nigeria’s experience during the Civil War demonstrated that locally refined petroleum products could sustain the country even under severe conditions.

“During the Civil War, on the Biafran side, throughout the period the war lasted for the three years, there was never a case of fuel scarcity. Why? Because we were refining our own petroleum products,” he said.

He said the government should stop destroying artisanal refineries and instead regulate and develop them.

“More than 5,000 cottage refineries have been destroyed by government, same illegal refineries. I have advocated severally that all these so-called illegal refineries should be legalized,” Ndu said.

He called for operators of such refineries to be trained, monitored and given access to crude oil and technology.

“Practice makes perfect! It’s not only when you build gigantic refineries like Dangote’s before you can be refining crude,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria should focus on producing petroleum products domestically rather than depending on imported fuel and debating subsidy.

“All those saying whether they should bring back fuel subsidy or not should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.

Ndu also criticised the concentration of economic decision-making in the Federal Government, arguing that national policies should be shaped through broader consultation with professionals.

“When you give one man power to dictate over the life of 230, over 330 million people, you deserve whatever you get,” he said.

He argued that economists in Nigeria and abroad should be allowed to collectively deliberate on the country’s economic policies.

“We have economists in this country, we have all kinds of developmental economists in the field, in the universities, these all over the world. These are the people who should dictate what will happen to our economy,” he said.

Ndu said the same approach should apply to infrastructure, healthcare and other sectors.

“If something was happening, you would have known,” he said, referring to the need for wider expert participation in policymaking.

He added: “Nigerians are among the brightest, most intelligent people you can find on the face of the Earth. If you give them an opportunity to share with you their thought processes, you will never miss your road.”

Ndu also renewed his call for political power to rotate to the South-East, arguing that such an arrangement would promote fairness and national inclusion.

“Today, when I say that power should go to South-East, many people will come and try to argue against it,” he said.

He cited international organisations where leadership positions are rotated among member states.

“Even the United Nations rotates power among nations. ECOWAS rotates power. African Union rotates power. What stops us from rotating power in our country?” Ndu asked.

He said Nigeria must develop a governance model capable of serving as an example to the rest of Africa.

“God has created Nigeria to be the leader of the African continent. And the best leadership is best leadership by example,” he said.

“We should put our acts together, fix our country, develop a policy that makes sense.”

Ndu said the ultimate objective should be to build a Nigeria capable of influencing positive change across the continent.

“We should find a way to run Nigeria optimally, and then use it as a pedestal to help convince the rest of Africa to follow suit so that Africa can stand as the most powerful and most independent, sustainable nation on Earth,” he said.