Tinubu remains courageous leader, says ex-PSC chairman

Former chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Simon Okeke on Thursday, April 25, said President Bola Tinubu remains a courageous leader despite the rising cost of living and other forms of economic downturn.

Okeke noted that although the problems were enormous, Tinubu had been trying his best to fix the myriad of challenges under his watch.

He, however, called for the reshuffling of the team working with the president but gave a nod to the office of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the economic adviser who he said was doing well.

“The cabinet reshuffle has become necessary to create an opportunity for a zone like the southeast to be equally accommodated in ministerial appointments like other geo-political zones,” he said.

While proposing eight ministerial positions from the Southeast, Okeke recalled that the Ohaneze Ndigbo had earlier canvassed for the cabinet reshuffle, adding that he endorsed the Ohaneze’s position to ensure more Easterners were accommodated for the interest of justice and equity.

On the recent controversy of state police, Okeke said he had been a major proponent of state police ideology before it became a burning issue, stressing that state police remained the ideal thing, especially for those serious about security challenges in the country.

The former PSC boss who gave prominence to the merits of state police ideology in the pages of his new Book titled, “Policing the Nigeria Police” presented in Lagos state recently chaired by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, said he was fully in support of the move as obtained in other developed countries of the world.

“If anybody should be serious about security, there should be state police as it is in the US, Germany, and other countries. Our country is modelled on the US government.

“The system is an antidote to security challenges where the states will be fully in charge. I’m one hundred percent in support of it,” he said.

On non-functional government refineries in Nigeria, Okeke described as conspiracy what was happening in the refinery, saying the managers of that sector of the economy were not serious about making the refineries work.

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“How many times have Nigerians been told that the refineries will start work, yet nothing new has been seen?

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“The ultimate goal of planners in that area of the economy is to privatize the refineries for Nigerians to be held at the mercy of private companies as suppliers of petroleum products and every other thing,” he stated.

Reacting to security challenges in Nigeria, especially the northern parts of the country, Okeke said the activities of the bandits were suspected to have been masterminded by thousands of militants allegedly hired to uproot President Goodluck Jonathan who he said sensed the evil scheme and quickly accepted defeat.

“Since then, the bandits, allegedly handsomely settled with billions of naira have declined to go back to where they were recruited. The state of insecurity had come to stay, except new measures are adopted,” he added.