Ex-Gov Attah, Former IG Clash At Confab’s Inaugural Session

A disagreement erupted on Tuesday between a former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie and ex-Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah during the inaugural session of the Committee on Devolution of Powers at the ongoing National Conference They disagreed in their inaugural address on expectations from the committee. Also, the sitting arrangement in the Committee on Devolution of Powers indicated a division over fiscal federalism and resource control as Southern delegates sat separately from their Northern counterparts. The committee has also commenced deliberations on the review of the legislative list while Preliminary discussions on fiscal federalism will commence Wednesday. While, Attah quoted a former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd), that the problem in Nigeria was imbalance, Coomasie in a sharp response to Attah, said, “If you have the government and you don’t have the resources, then you cannot save the people.” “Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd), said in 1967 that the obstacle in Nigeria is the imbalance in the affairs of this country; this explains the imperatives of this conference,” Attah said adding that it was Decree 8 that eventually decentralized Nigeria as a nation. The ex-governor therefore suggested that all the delegates in the Committee on Devolution of Powers should endeavour to read the Henry Willinks Commission report of 1957, the 1963 Republican Constitution and the Political Bureau report during the General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime adding that all these would help the committee reach consensus in its report. But in his response, Coomassie said, “The issue of the power at the centre is the main concern of all delegates and that it is the general consensus that there are too much powers at the centre. But religion and ethnicity will not play any role in the affairs of Nigeria, as all issues would be resolved through consensus. If we have lived together in the past 100 years, we shall abide by consensus in whatever we do.” Meanwhile, a former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Gambo Muhammadu Jimeta on Tuesday reflected on the security challenges in the country and came out with a damning verdict that Nigeria is sick. According to him, it is only a sick country that will be faced with the current security situation in the country. Jimeta who spoke after the inauguration of the Committee on National Security compared the nation to the human body saying the entire nation was sick because the head is sick. He said until the head is healed of its sickness, nothing else will work. “The nation is like a human being. Whatever affects one part affects the other. The country is sick. Otherwise, how could human beings organise themselves and kill children in a school? How could people rob ordinary citizens? How could people vandalise electricity facilities? This is so because the head that leads the body is sick. So, we have to consider all of these,” Jimeta stated. The members of the committee advocated for the creation of a National Guard to complement the efforts of security agencies in tackling insurgency. They also want the Federal Government to emulate the United State of America by creating Department of Homeland Security to coordinate internal security operations in the country. The delegates said the new department will coordinate internal security operations in order to put an end to the endless inter agency rivalry in the country. Punch.