Former Nigerian army intelligence officer, Col Tony Nyiam (Retd), has blasted the Buhari’s Federal Government for refusing to send soldiers after the Fulani herdsmen involved in the Benue killings.
Col Nyiam recalled that soldiers were deployed against members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Niger Delta militants among others, but the police were sent after the killer herdsmen.
The retired army personnel spoke in a Channels Television interview on Monday.
Nyiam, who noted that the situation in Rivers State was comparable to that in Benue State, stated that the deployment of soldiers helped in the tracking down and killing of the Rivers State kidnap kingpin, Johnson Igwedibia, known as Don Waney.
“There are double standards that we see here. Today, the cult guy in Rivers has been killed by the military because the military (troops) were sent in.
“Why will President Muhammadu Buhari send police to Benue, why not the military? When it was the case of the militants, soldiers were sent. When it was the case of IPOB, soldiers were sent.
“In the case of sophisticated armed invaders, usually described by the Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, as foreigners, you send police, that is pure double-standard,” he said.
The security expert in questioning the policy framework in tackling the insecurity said: “There is a failure at both the policy and operational levels.
“At the policy level, you cannot use police action against sophisticated armed invaders of one’s community.”