A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, has berated former President Muhammadu Buhari, for allegedly causing a massive breakdown of security architecture in Nigeria through nepotistic appointment of service chiefs.
According to Chidoka, it will take the country many years to recover from the ruins experienced during Buhari’s eight years in power.
Chidoka, who is also a former Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps, spoke during a televised interview monitored by our correspondent on Wednesday.
“There is a massive breakdown of security in the country. It was worsened in the eight years when former President Mohammadu Buhari was in power because of his lopsided and nepotistic appointment of service chiefs.
“He destroyed the security agencies and I think it will take us many years to recover from the destruction.
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“But beyond his era, if you go back in time, you will find that the major problem is that we have turned our security agencies into employment opportunities for the boys, our constituents, and friends.”
According to Chidoka, the top hierarchies in the police, army, and the Department of State Services are populated by “unintelligent people managing our security agencies.”
“A look into the police budget will reveal that 90 per cent is used for salary payment, while only about four or five per cent is left for recruitment expenditure.
“This means that they have to find other ways of meeting up with their pressing needs. That has led to a broken down security, which is not peculiar to the South-East geo-political zone alone,” he added.
Efforts to reach Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, were unsuccessful as calls to his telephone line were not answered and he had yet to reply to a text message sent to him as of press time.