by GARIEL ENOGHOLASEI, BENIN

AGAINST the backdrop of the recent post-election violence in some Northerner states a former Provost Marshall of the Nigerian Army, Brig-General Don Idada Ikponmwen (rtd) has  asked security agencies in the country to be watchful to avoid a repeat.

General Idada Ikponmwen who spoke to Saturday Vanguard in Benin yesterday, said the post election violence especially in some core Northern states was unwholesome and unwelcome as it only succeeded in painting a sad picture of the country before the international community.

“In this type of kind of situation, it is not difficult to find people resorting to violence at the slightest provocation”, he said.

On expectations from President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the former Head of the Nigerian Army legal Department charged him to tackle the war against corruption headlong, insisting that over 95 percent of the problems facing the country was caused by corruption.

He added that without clamping down on corruption, it would be difficult for Nigeria to make progress, adding “Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora are excepting so much from President Goodluck Jonathan. For a long time, the problem of Nigeria has been that of leadership. Every other problem takes their roots from bad and ineffective leadership.

“Therefore, President Jonathan being the first President to get the national mandate to rule Nigeria, from a zone that has always been taken as a minority, the South- South, he must make the difference”.