Member of the House of Representatives Committee on Air Force, Hon Shamsudeen Dambazau on Thursday expressed optimism that the 2023 election will hold as scheduled by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) contrary to speculations on the security threat in the country.
Hon. Dambazau who gave the charge during a media chat with Parliamentary Correspondents in Abuja argued that the present administration has made remarkable progress in tackling myriads of security challenges ravaging the country, including kidnapping.
The lawmaker who is the son of the former Chief of Defence Staff Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazau, however, harped on the need to hold any Security officer who fails to discharge their responsibilities in line with their mandates.
“Even in 2015 when the elections took place, most of these things were still happening. The bomb blasts were happening, and even the presidential candidate of APC, Muhammadu Buhari, was attacked in Kaduna. If not because he was in a bulletproof motor, maybe he would have been dead. What is important is to not give people the impunity to feel free that they can just come into society and do whatever they like, to inject that fear in them, to know the government is on top of its game and that is what we are doing.
“As Nigerians, we need to come together as a country. We need to have unison. We need to remove tribal sentiments and religious bigotry and understand the country is not for just us alone. Our leaders need to understand that they should eat last. We need to put the needs of the country forward. That is why I am here today to tell you without mincing words that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the man that has the gravitas, he is the man that has the experience to take care of all these issues that are disturbing Nigerians, be them trivial, be them controversial, be them sensitive, to be able to put people together to be able to douse all tensions in different sectors, in different regions of Nigeria. I promise you that come 2023, with the circumstances here, if you know about the spoiler effect, then you already know that clearly APC has already won this election by God’s grace come February 2023.
“With the security situation and the threat they are giving, I think it is very important that the security agencies, and not only them but the candidates that are the ones that have a lot to lose in this situation. They are the ones that need to come together to make sure that all apparatus that needs to be put in place to allow the elections to hold peacefully should be done.
While responding to concerns raised by some Nigerians on the health status of the APC Presidential Candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the lawmaker averred that: “Tinubu is healthy. There is nothing wrong with him. If you remember last night, Kashim Shettima even mentioned that he is diabetic and has hypertension. But Bola Ahmed Tinubu has no ailment. He is very fit. Did you not see him dancing Buga? He is well. There is nothing wrong with him.
“President Buhari had to go through these about three or four times, where he lost his election and because of that he has strongly supported the BVAS even when some quarters were calling for the BVAS to be ejected from the election process, as the President insisted that the BVAS must be used and there must free and fair elections, that the right candidate who Nigerians want must emerge.
“So, the BVAS obviously if you have people kicking against it, then that means it is doing its job. And that is why there is a threat. I think the BVAS is excellent and it would bring about free and fair elections whoever emerges, nobody is going to shout that they were cheated because they know that it was a free and fair election.
“All the issues Nigerians are concerned about are being addressed, have been addressed and would be addressed by the incoming government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima. We would vote in a strong government that would bring strong policies, stronger institutions and economic stability for Nigerians to prosper and enjoy the fruits of our land,” Dambazau noted.
While speaking on some of the successes recorded on security by this administration, Hon. Dambazzu observed that:: “Insecurity has been something that has been rearing its ugly head since around 2008. It is something that has been ongoing but I think we started to feel the bite around 2009 when Muhammed Yusuf was captured and handed over to the Police and was executed extra-judicially at that time.
“So, we have made progress now because I recall that between 2014 and the end of 2015. For that period I refused to go for any Eid-el prayer. I used to go for Friday prayers, I stayed at home or went to the barracks to pray. But now since around 2016, I have not missed any Eid-el prayer, and I have not missed a Juma’at prayer. So that speaks a lot.
“I remember there was a time there was an explosion at Banex. We don’t have this kind of occurrence anymore. We can name so many instances like what happened in Karu, Louis Edet House, the United Nations, Zaria, Kaduna, and Emir’s Palace in Kano. All these types of occurrences have stopped. Now the insecurity has become something that is in isolated pockets, but it is still being addressed.
“Now you can look at what the Commander in Chief has done recently with the acquisition of the Super Tucano jets that are currently in Kainji, the Air Force Base and those Jets have been shelling and attacking the terrorists.
“If we also look at the area of technology, the Air Force has acquired drones. Not just that, over the past 10 years, the Nigerian Air Force has been developing and sending personnel overseas to learn about this technology. We have people that are capable of developing these technologies. The only issue we have now is to make sure we provide the right facilities for these individuals that have acquired that knowledge to be able to come and do more research and development. So if you look at it now the deployment of drones, has helped the Nigerian Air Force. Currently, this is what is going on.
“Is there room for improvement? Of course. I think we need to have more geo-spatial mapping of Nigeria which would bring in the talk of Artificial Intelligence. That is where it comes into play. Where we can map out the country, where we know if there is an attack at a specific location, then we know we can scramble these Jets or send these unmanned drones to attack these terrorists and also to secure the Nigerian airspace. I think so far so good, this government has done very well.
“There is room for improvement. More can be done. I think people should be held accountable. There should be set targets, because if you do not have a performance target, then there is no way to review to see how well you have been doing.
“The security agencies have a task to perform. And that task is to secure the lives and properties of Nigerians. If you are not doing what you are supposed to do, you should get changed. That is how it should go. So that people would be on top of their game. There is no sentiment in play here, so the government is not playing. They have targets that have been given to the security agencies to ensure that Nigerians can exercise their right to vote and put in leaders that they believe would be able to usher this country into the next phase that we want to,” Dambazau who hails from Kano State said.
