Governor of Sokoto State, Mr Aminu Tambuwal, says killings of policemen by criminals have strengthened the argument that the nation’s security architecture needed to be overhauled.

The governor described as worrisome a situation where policemen, who had the constitutional duty of protecting citizens, were themselves being killed by criminals.

According to him, the pervading insecurity in the country is blamable on failed leadership.

In a statement personally signed by him on Tuesday, Tambuwal recalled that only last week seven policemen were gunned down in Abuja with their arms taken away by the assailants.

This, he noted, came only weeks after three policemen were shot dead in Sokoto State by kidnappers, who abducted a Syrian national they were escorting.

He recalled that few days after the three cops were killed in Sokoto, four other police officers were ambushed and killed in Benue State.

These attacks and killings of policemen, he said, had reinforced the need to review the security strategy in the country.

The governor said, “The question from every law-abiding citizen today is: who will protect us, when even those constitutionally charged with the responsibility of protecting our lives and property have, themselves, become vulnerable targets of criminals? Where shall we run to for protection, when institutions of state put in place to protect us are being progressively dismantled by opportunistic criminals and the trained personnel are also on the run?

“It bears repeating for me to state here that Nigeria’s security architecture and the strategies currently adopted and deployed for national security, if any, need a comprehensive overhaul. It is not working. The needless waste of life everywhere, both those of trained security personnel and ordinary citizens, is a drain on the nation’s resources and an unacceptable diminution of our valuable human capital.

“The worst part of all these is that these deaths are avoidable and the killings preventable. It boils down, at the end of the day, to failure of leadership.”

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