Azazi’s last wishes for Nigeria

The late former National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Goodluck Jonathan, General Andrew Azazi who died in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa on Saturday perhaps had a premonition of his death when he spoke at his last public outing in Lagos, on Thursday, at the fourth Christopher Kolade symposium organised by the Nigeria Leadership Initiatives.
The late Azazi, who was one of the discussants at the event in Muson Centre, said that Nigeria would overcome the dreaded Islamic Sect, Boko Haram, and also confirmed that he saw his June 22 sack coming.
Azazi made case for national security data centre that would serve as a warehouse to monitor the society, noting that such information base must be secured and not made available, for Nigerians to use against each other.
When asked of his legacies as NSA, Azazi said his period in office was too short, stating however, that he released a booklet on building block of national security strategies in addition to putting counter-terrorism measures in place.
Azazi used the opportunity to explain that he saw his sack coming but was not sure of when , stating that his Chief of Defence Staff job was his very last as any other one after was an addition.
“I knew I was going to be fired but did not know the time. However, it was not true that I was sad after the sack. The decision was communicated to me after a security meeting and I took it like that I even talked to press men after,” he said.
Azazi identified corruption, massive theft, inefficient bureaucracy, unemployment; decay infrastructure as some of the challenges affecting leadership in the country.
Naijaurban