Abuja – A former Commissioner of Police for the FCT, Mr Lawrence Alobi, has cautioned the “Bring Back Our Girls” group to avoid confrontation with constituted authorities in its activities in other to remain relevant.
Alobi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that their recent activities could undermine the security of the country if left unchecked.
“Section 24 (e) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria provides that every Nigerian citizen has a duty to assist the security agencies to maintain law and order.
“The way the group is doing is as if they are becoming lawless and confrontational.
“They are confronting and disturbing public peace; they block the highways; other citizens also have a right to freedom of movement,” he said.
According to him, whenever there is a right, there is a corresponding obligation; citizens have an obligation to assist security agencies to maintain law and order.
“Should we go and begin to confront them because we want to go to the Villa and submit a paper? The security of the country overrides every other interest.
“Assuming there is a crisis now and maybe there is a counter group that attacks them, they will invite the police to come and curtail the situation.”
“We should not allow sentiments to becloud our sense of judgement and reasoning and at the end, it is defective,” he said.
He advised the citizens to always do `the right thing by applying wisdom.
The former FCT police boss also urged the Federal Government to employ caution in the proposed negotiation to swap prisoners with Chibok Girls.
“The issue of swapping, first and foremost, do we know those we are really with, how sincere are they?
“Are we swapping because we are on a point of weakness on our part and because Boko Haram has overwhelmed us? We need to apply wisdom.
“It is good to swap, but we should not fall into the hands of fraudsters. Why should Boko Haram group dictates those who should be swapped with the Chibok Girls?
“Should they now dictate to us? We should be the one to decide who to release to them, not they dictate to us who should be released to them,” he asked?
On the advice by the security agencies to the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone Edo election, Alobi said the advice should not be ignored.
“They (security) are on ground. They have the intelligence report. They know the level of the threat and they also know their level of preparedness.
“So I think security is also key in any election. That is why sometimes election could be annulled because of cancellation due to insecurity and violence,” he said.
He, however, urged the security agencies to be pro-active, assess and save the situation by curtailing whatever threat that exist. (NAN)
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