Deby’s Death May Worsen Nigeria’s Security Challenges – Olawepo Hashim
The presidential candidate of People’s Trust in 2019, Mr Gbenga Olawepo Hashim, on Wednesday warned that the death of Idris Deby of Chad can worsen the security challenges being witnessed in parts of Nigeria. He said the death was capable of further escalating the security situation particularly in the North East and North West. Olawepo Hashim said this in Abuja. He said the event should be of concern to Nigeria’s policy experts. It is a setback for Nigeria’s national security.
“Deby has been the buffer for Nigeria’s fight against multiple forces of insurgencies in the Lake Chad region. Nigeria’s policy experts must of necessity, be very worried now. Since the strategic mistake of the overthrow of Gaddafi by some western forces who brought together a crowd of Islamists in 2010 and waged war against Libya, the security situation in the Sahel Region has rapidly deteriorated.
What was clear was that a balance of forces as a result of imported high grade equipment of war and communication and training have tilted things in support of non state actors opposed to the various states and governments of the Sahel region.” Olawepo Hashim said the worst that knowledgeable African Heads of State feared have come to the Sahel as the forces of destruction unleashed on Libya continued to sweep through all the states of the Sahel and West Africa as a whole and to Central Africa. Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Burkina Faso were paying for the tragedy of 2010 in form of severe insecurity caused by non state actors who were better trained and better armed. He added, “Whatever the internal politics in Chad is, Nigeria’s concern must be our national interest. This is standard international relations. National security is the primary interest of states. “Deby’s death has the potential to complicate things for Nigeria in the North East and North West.
