Tony Nyiam, a retired Colonel in the Nigerian Army, who rose to public attention on April 22, 1990, when he, along with other army officers, attempted to overthrow the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida in a coup. He was also said to have served as a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC), which played a key role in organizing the 2014 National Conference.
In an interview with The Vanguard correspondent, Nyiam was reported to have spoken on the issue of insecurity in Nigeria and suggested possible solutions to address the challenges facing the country.
In his remarks, he alleged that military personnel and police officers had been known to rent out arms to dangerous criminals in exchange for money. He claimed that even top officials from national security agencies had acknowledged such incidents. He cited two examples as evidence.
The first, according to him, came from a former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, who had reportedly stated that the Nigeria Police had reached its lowest point, alleging that police duties had become commercialized and subject to the influence of the highest bidder. He also claimed the former IGP had described the Special Anti-Robbery Squads as having devolved into killer squads involved in dubious land and debt collection activities.
The second instance, he said, was evident during a ‘National Security Conference’ organized by the Nigerian Senate under then Senate President Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki. He recalled that the Director-General of the State Security Services at the time, Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura, had briefed the Senators, regional leaders, and the Armed Forces and Security Services Chiefs, further exposing the extent of corruption and the erosion of public confidence in the country’s national security institutions.
Further talking, he said, “Alhaji Daura testified that a number of the sophisticated arms recovered from the arrested AK-47 armed herdsmen-militia were discovered to have come from the Nigerian Army’s and Nigeria Police’s armouries. What was remarkable was that the briefing was from a patriotic Nigerian Fulani top security official. Alhaji Daura testified against the transnational Bororo Fulanis, and you might not believe it, this was during President Buhari’s reign.
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