BRIEFING: NATFORCE To Begin Operation, Training Nationwide As Chief Okereke Warns Against Members’ Harassment By Police, DSS, Others

PRESS RELEASE: The National Taskforce (NATFORCE) on Illegal Importation/Smuggling of Small arms, Light and Chemical weapons, Director General Chief Dr. Osita Emmanuel Okereke on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at Grand Pela Hotels and suites Abuja.
Protocols 
You are all welcome to this press briefing on the state of the National TaskForce (NATFORCE).

First of all, we officially welcome President Muhammadu Buhari back to the country after weeks of medical vacation. We thank God that Mr. President has since taken over the mantle of leadership.

We are very happy that God brought him back after his recovery against the thoughts of evil people who wished him dead.

As Nigerians, we prayed while he was away and we thank God who answered us and healed him to continue the good work he is doing for our country.

We call on all Nigerians to come together and join hands together to help this government to succeed.

We must unite as a nation and support the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is headed by President Muhammadu Buhari. This is a government was destined to be and God anointed President Buhari to lead the country at this time.

At the moment, the government is being sabotaged and frustrated by some wicked individuals who don’t want Mr. President to succeed. You see, President Muhammadu Buhari is a man of God; a man God has anointed to lead this country to the promise land.

We call on President Buhari to look critically into his kitchen cabinet with a view to immediately reshuffling his cabinet because we believe that most of the challenges are in-house and from the non-performance by some persons in his kitchen cabinet.

Most of them are very selfish; working for themselves, working for their pockets and not for Nigeria.

There are some bad eggs that have been there since the previous administrations before he took office and they are still in the system. When somebody is incompetent or is sabotaging the government, that person must not be allowed to remain in the government for any reason.

For instance, I see no reason why the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) should still be there.

Recycling is one of the greatest problems we are having in Nigeria. When Mr. President came to power, he gave an order to the Inspector-General of Police to withdraw all police officers serving in the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and redeploy them to the police.

But today, these police officers are still serving in the EFCC. They are the ones exporting corruption in the anti-corruption agency and Chief Mike Okiro as chairman of the PSC is the one who posts these officers.

There were those police officers who worked with Ibrahim Lamorde at the EFCC who are still in the Commission.

During the Lamorde’s tenure, there were some funds recovered which have not been accounted for till today, yet Ibrahim Lamorde was promoted by the Police service Commission and given a new assignment to head the Police Special Fraud Unit.

He was promoted from DC to CP; how can they promote Lamorde? How can such a person who is yet to account for the money he recovered as EFCC chairman be made to head such a serious office?

Who is he going to investigate when he refused to give account of his stewardship as EFCC chairman? Those who served with Lamorde at EFCC have been redeployed to EFCC commands outside Abuja by Chief Mike Okiro despite an order by Mr. President that they should be withdrawn from the Commission and redeployed to the Nigeria Police Force. These are the people causing hindrances in the EFCC.

Today the EFCC can investigate the military, the Customs and other security agents but it cannot investigate the Police because its leadership has always been from the Nigeria Police Force.

For this, we need a change of leadership in the EFCC. Mr. President can nominate a Chairman for the EFCC from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Civil Defence, DSS, or any other federal security agency in accordance with the EFCC Establishment Act, which stated that the EFCC chairman can be appointed from any of those federal security agencies.

There is need to promote the EFCC staff, who are doing well on the job. It was because of corruption that DSS withdrew their men from the EFCC. It is the Carrie EFCC staff that is doing the job in the Commission and they should be recognized.

Fight against corruption, Boko Haram, other security issues in the country are paramount to the continued existence of Nigeria are two most important assignment of the present administration and it is the duty of every Nigerian to contribute to winning the war.

The National Taskforce and other security agencies will collaborate to ensure the war is won.

All over the federation, the National Taskforce is set commence it full operation. The insecurity in Nigeria must be fought and peace restore across the federation. We are set to train and retain their officers and men in all the 774 local governments in the country.

Each local government will have at least 300 NATFORCE personnel trained and deployed to the localities to ensure that proliferation of small arms and illegal weapons were checked effectively to end frequent communal clashes and killings in parts of the country.

Insurgency has to be fought from the grassroots to the national level to be effectively brought to an end. Some villages in Nigeria have no police posts. Our men will effectively provide security in those localities.

Therefore, we call on the Police, the DSS, the Customs and other security agencies should to note that NATFORCE has not been disbanded.

The issue was challenged in the court and a judgment was given since April 2013, which has not been appealed till date. Our men should not be harassed in the course of their legitimate duties.

While we wait for the National Assembly to enact the NATFORCE Act, we encourage our member to be law abiding and work for the unity and progress of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Long Live the Federal republic of Nigeria!
Long Live President Muhammadu Buhari!
Long Live NATFORCE!

Chief Dr. Emmanuel Osita Okereke, OON
DG, NATFORCE