Mix-up over order dismantling military checkpoints

There seems to be a mix up over an order handed down by the Federal Government that military checkpoints around the country be dismantled.

Against an earlier statement by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Ismail Aliyu, had announced that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the dismantling of military roadblocks, National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) on Thursday said that the president never gave such an order.

Aliyu, after a security meeting last month, announced that the president had ordered the dismantling of military roadblocks and directed the police to take over internal security.

However, Dasuki, who met top military and security chiefs in his office in Abuja yesterday clarified that the directive of the president was never a blanket order to remove all military checkpoints.

The NSA said military roadblocks in flashpoints would continue to be maintained while those in relatively peaceful areas would be dismantled but soldiers would continue to be positioned in those areas while not blocking roads.

He said it was both conventional and the global practice for governments to increase security measures whenever insecurity is heightened and appealed to citizens to endure the temporary inconvenience the roadblocks may cause.

According to him, essential security checkpoints in vulnerable areas were a “necessary inconvenience” to ensure criminals and terrorists do not have easy passage.

He cited some arrests made recently including that of the mastermind of bomb attacks in some towns who were nabbed by Nigerian troops at such checkpoints.

While condemning the indiscriminate proliferation of security checkpoints by unauthorised bodies, he said: “We will continue to ensure that the necessary or essential security checkpoints are not avenues for extortion, indiscipline and other forms of corrupt practices that can exacerbate traffic flow and cause road accidents.”

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He added that the government was deploying new sophisticated scanners and detectors in some areas to ease traffic and to identify movement of strange objects, concealed weapons and criminal suspects.

Dasuki added however that “whenever necessary, soldiers will mount their checkpoints to conduct security screening in emergency situations and for quick response”.

Despite the clarification on the reinstatement of military checkpoints in the country, an explosion was reported to have rocked the Kofare area of Yola, the Adamawa State capital yesterday, resulting in the injury of three persons.

Thursday’s, blast occurred barely one month after a another bombing rocked the city, killing many and injuring several others,

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