The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, has reiterated the need for citizens to avoid seeing the military as the enemy of the State, saying such demoralises the Armed Forces, impeding the fight against insecurity.
General Irabor said the armed forces and other security agencies, such as the Police, were a tool of the State for governance, hence the need for citizens’ support.
The CDS, who spoke at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, Plateau State while delivering a paper, titled “Strengthening Local Governance in Nigeria: The Role of the Armed Forces, said: “If we have a wrong perception of the armed forces and others, it is like working against oneself, it is time to rewrite the story and put it in proper perspective.
”We should look at the military as the armed forces that meet the yearning and aspiration of Nigeria as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It is not for anyone to see them as men and women that belong to occupational forces, no it is men and women working for the good of the nation itself. The same applies to other government sub-agencies.
“So, the wrong impression and perception must change, that is why we need to recommend for change in the perception.
“Things must change and we need to escalate our relationship with the public to fight insecurity to a standstill.”
He stated further that the military would build public confidence against the negative perception of the public, stating that “I made clear the role of the armed forces in strengthening governance, this is what we have been doing over the years by strengthening the security ambience.”
While debunking the insinuation that terrorists had taken over some space in the country, the CDS said, “there is no space in which the terrorists have taken over, of course there are some illegalities that some criminals are perpetrating that doesn’t mean they have taken over, rather, we have punctured them.
“In the past two, three weeks, there have been reverses and we will keep strengthening it.”
However, the Director-General of NIPSS, Professor Ayo Omotayo, said security was the beginning of everything in the country.
He added, “the participants have gone through many engagements and interactions, there is nothing anyone can do without having a good security environment.”
