The camp of the Interior Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has described calls for the Minister’s resignation in some quarters as thoughtless and without regard for the great transformation taking place in the ministry under the former Osun State governor.
Reacting for the minister, his special consultant on security matters, Dr. Oladipupo Okeyomi, said asking Aregbesola to resign in the wake of recent attacks on some Nigerian prisons is simply illogical and jejune.
According to him, the insecurity challenges facing the country are more complex than to be treated superficially, to the extent of imagining that a prison should be the greatest fortress against armed attacks.
Rationalising the scenario in a chat with FirstNews, Okeyomi asked rhetorically: “Should we say because the prices of food items in the market have increased, the Finance Minister should resign? Or do we say owing to kidnap cases, the Inspector-General of Police should resign? Or do we ask all the military service chiefs to resign because of banditry and insurgencies?
“Still, do we say because Nigeria was defeated in a football match, the Minister of Sport should tender his resignation letter?”
The minister’s aide however shed light on his line of thought, saying, “The insecurity challenge of banditry and insurgency manifesting in various forms is a general problem plaguing the West African coast and even the Sahel; it is not limited to Nigeria.
“The most plausible cause for launching attacks on prisons could be that criminals from their deadly groups had been put behind bars by the law and their colleagues in the trenches wanted to set them free through shock, coordinated attacks.”
He added that “while the federal government is doing all it can, in collaboration with other well-meaning countries to decapitate the ranks of these criminals and silence them, such a grave issue should not be politicised for selfish reasons or reduced to a dance of the simpletons.”
Okeyomi hailed what he described as massive transformation of the prisons under Aregbesola, starting from changing a public perception that takes prison inmates as outlaws, thus the change of all prisons’ name to Correctional Centres.
“Surely, the minister is as worried as other law-abiding Nigerians on the recent attacks on the prisons and appropriate security measures are being taken in concert with requisite security bodies, to forestall recurrence,” Okeyomi assured.
The security expert also commended the Interior Minister for lifting the living standard of prison inmates “through boosted feeding, clothing, and introduction of educational, vocational, correctional and counselling centres within the four walls, to make them become responsible citizens once they serve out their terms.”