By Lanre Oloyede
Following the security advisory issued last week, a Security Expert and Public Affairs Analyst, Chief Jackson Lekan-Ojo, has described the United States and United Kingdom as unnecessary alarmist who are only interested in causing panic and fear in the country.
Recall that the US and UK government had announced that there are “elevated threats” to major hotels in Nigeria’s “larger cities”.
This was contained in an emergency information for American citizens dated November 3.
The advisory said the Nigerian security agencies are working to counter the threat.
It said US citizens should exercise vigilance at major hotels, be alert to their surroundings, keep a low profile, and review the travel advisory for Nigeria before checking into any hotels
But speaking with Nigerian Pilot correspondent, Chief Lekan-Ojo described them as unnecessary alarmists that nobody should take seriously but then the threat should be investigated.
“If you listen to the alarm they raise, they will destabilize your country. America wants people to believe they are the ones policing the world. America wants to speak and everybody obey. There was a time America gave a prediction that Nigeria can not be together by 2011, did it come to pass? We are still together till today, they are unnecessary alarmists.
The security expert said what America and United Kingdom ought to have done was to share the intelligence with Nigerian security operatives and both should work together at nipping it in the bud instead of making it public in such a way that could lead to panic and unrest in the country.
He warned that Nigeria’s economy cannot afford to accommodate a shut down of hotels and other businesses as a result of the security threat.
“I don’t believe in raising unnecessary alarm, why can’t they quietly pass the intelligence to the security agents in order to nip it in the bud. It’s not supposed to be an information for public consumption, it’s supposed to be within the security agencies. We are already in a bad economic situation, do you want our hotels to start closing down and other businesses shutting down?
“What happens to their own business interest in Nigeria, who owns mobil, Chevron, Texaco, Shell, etc? Why didn’t they shut down their oil interests in Nigeria, why didn’t they close down Shell office in Abuja?
“But that doesn’t mean we should fold our arms and go to sleep. We need to study and analyse the threat and know if there is any truth in it but that doesn’t mean that the country should go into panicking and be fidgeting,” he stated.
Speaking on the performance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, Chief Lekan-Ojo said the president has the capacity to perform better than his predecessors because of his experience, exposure, confidence and competence.
“Bola Tinubu can be better than Jonathan and Buhari, he has seen it all, he has international exposure. Tinubu is a president that can address any other president in the world. Tinubu may not be the Messiah but he is the president we need now. I believe he can do better and improve on the performance of past presidents. But where my fears is in the implementation of policies. He has to be ruthless and firm like Andrew Jackson said.
“He must make sure there is difference between official relationship and personal relationship between him and his cabinet members,” he said.
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