ACN WANT KILLING TO STOP IN NIGERIA
•‘Policing system must be decentralised’
FROM the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), a Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, has come warning that President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly should not allow the violence ravaging the northern part of the country to extend to other geopolitical zones.
Although the group said the persistent security challenges in the North portend dangerous threat to the nation’s unity and democracy, it however warned that military coup is not going to be the best option or solution to the problem.
The group spoke as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday said the continued bombing activities of Boko Haram sect and the killing of innocent Nigerians had desecrated the holy month of Ramadan.
The ACF National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, in a statement issued in Kaduna, urged the Federal Government and the terrorist group to revisit the dialogue process to save the nation from the present security challenges.
According to him, “the attacks and killings of policemen in both Damaturu and Sokoto as well as some churches in Kogi by armed men suspected to be members of Boko Haram is very disturbing and horrible, not because the killings are more dastardly than those of the past, but because they desecrate the holy month of Ramadan.”
Meanwhile, Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has urged Nigerians to look beyond concentrating on partisan politics if the people are to be rescued from bad governance.
In a statement by the Publicity Secretary of ARG, Kunle Famoriyo, the group said there could never be progress in a nation where anarchy is allowed to thrive.
The group said: “We have watched with disgust the alarming rate at which violence has taken over larger part of the northern region of Nigeria, most especially Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Gombe and Plateau states. It is, therefore, clear that there is no part of Nigeria that is immune to the violent strategy being employed in the North to wreak havoc on innocent people of this country. Most importantly, our concern is that the situation should not be allowed to consume the entire geographical expression called Nigeria.
“But notwithstanding, a military coup is not an option in finding solution to the problems confronting Nigeria at present. Rather, the leadership of this country should, without much ado, convoke a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), where all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria will bare their minds out to arrive at amicable and acceptable solution to all the challenges. We cannot afford to continue going through the stubborn path of ruination, as represented by the 1999 military constitution.”
Governor Fayemi advocated the urgent need to build coalitions and permanent platform in the public sphere that is beyond party and personalities, but all embracing enough to those who subscribe to the core values of integrity, honesty and dedication to transform the country.
Addressing the audience as a Guest Speaker in Lagos yesterday at the launching of a book written by the Political Editor of The Nation, Mobolode Omonijo, titled The Nigerian Political Turf: Polity, Politics and Politicians, Fayemi said having spent the last seven years in partisan politics and participating in grassroots organisation, his belief in the need to take politics beyond political parties is more reinforced.
According to him, “unless the critical mass of our people cutting across age, gender, zones and party political affiliations adopt the same positions, with a more clearly defined collective agenda, the current approach to solving our problem will not suffice.”
He noted that the all-embracing platform could address a variety of issues, but none is more urgent today than the question of the structure of the Nigerian state.
Fayemi, however, stated that “the task of such platform must not be limited to reforming the institutional framework of the state but also focus on leadership and conduct in public life, the Constitution and the legal framework of the Federal State, human rights, militarism and civil violence, public sector management, transparency and accountability as well as visible economic progress and wealth creation for the ordinary citizens.
In a similar vein, the national leader of the Action Congress for Nigeria, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was represented by former Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan,
lamented that the nation is prostrate because morality has been taken out of politics and replaced “completely” with “enlightened” self-interest.
“The saddest commentary is that decades after, we are still debating the same issues and Nigeria is still saddled with the same class of politicians, leaders and followers. We are sadly trapped in the same Nigeria where constant power supply remains a mere wish. Where corruption is a pastime. Where the leaders treat the citizens like slaves and where life is a mixture of hell laced with some fleeting moments of reprieve. The present state of insecurity and bombings is symptomatic of a nation in a free fall. The government must act quickly and intelligently to curtail the situation before Nigerians resort to self-help. The debate over state or community policing is long overdue. Nigeria needs to decentralize its policing system in line with universal policing trends,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria is becoming a country of lamentation but that cannot bring about the change we need unless we act.
FROM the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), a Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, has come warning that President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly should not allow the violence ravaging the northern part of the country to extend to other geopolitical zones.
Although the group said the persistent security challenges in the North portend dangerous threat to the nation’s unity and democracy, it however warned that military coup is not going to be the best option or solution to the problem.
The group spoke as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday said the continued bombing activities of Boko Haram sect and the killing of innocent Nigerians had desecrated the holy month of Ramadan.
The ACF National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, in a statement issued in Kaduna, urged the Federal Government and the terrorist group to revisit the dialogue process to save the nation from the present security challenges.
According to him, “the attacks and killings of policemen in both Damaturu and Sokoto as well as some churches in Kogi by armed men suspected to be members of Boko Haram is very disturbing and horrible, not because the killings are more dastardly than those of the past, but because they desecrate the holy month of Ramadan.”
Meanwhile, Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has urged Nigerians to look beyond concentrating on partisan politics if the people are to be rescued from bad governance.
In a statement by the Publicity Secretary of ARG, Kunle Famoriyo, the group said there could never be progress in a nation where anarchy is allowed to thrive.
The group said: “We have watched with disgust the alarming rate at which violence has taken over larger part of the northern region of Nigeria, most especially Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Gombe and Plateau states. It is, therefore, clear that there is no part of Nigeria that is immune to the violent strategy being employed in the North to wreak havoc on innocent people of this country. Most importantly, our concern is that the situation should not be allowed to consume the entire geographical expression called Nigeria.
“But notwithstanding, a military coup is not an option in finding solution to the problems confronting Nigeria at present. Rather, the leadership of this country should, without much ado, convoke a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), where all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria will bare their minds out to arrive at amicable and acceptable solution to all the challenges. We cannot afford to continue going through the stubborn path of ruination, as represented by the 1999 military constitution.”
Governor Fayemi advocated the urgent need to build coalitions and permanent platform in the public sphere that is beyond party and personalities, but all embracing enough to those who subscribe to the core values of integrity, honesty and dedication to transform the country.
Addressing the audience as a Guest Speaker in Lagos yesterday at the launching of a book written by the Political Editor of The Nation, Mobolode Omonijo, titled The Nigerian Political Turf: Polity, Politics and Politicians, Fayemi said having spent the last seven years in partisan politics and participating in grassroots organisation, his belief in the need to take politics beyond political parties is more reinforced.
According to him, “unless the critical mass of our people cutting across age, gender, zones and party political affiliations adopt the same positions, with a more clearly defined collective agenda, the current approach to solving our problem will not suffice.”
He noted that the all-embracing platform could address a variety of issues, but none is more urgent today than the question of the structure of the Nigerian state.
Fayemi, however, stated that “the task of such platform must not be limited to reforming the institutional framework of the state but also focus on leadership and conduct in public life, the Constitution and the legal framework of the Federal State, human rights, militarism and civil violence, public sector management, transparency and accountability as well as visible economic progress and wealth creation for the ordinary citizens.
In a similar vein, the national leader of the Action Congress for Nigeria, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was represented by former Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan,
lamented that the nation is prostrate because morality has been taken out of politics and replaced “completely” with “enlightened” self-interest.
“The saddest commentary is that decades after, we are still debating the same issues and Nigeria is still saddled with the same class of politicians, leaders and followers. We are sadly trapped in the same Nigeria where constant power supply remains a mere wish. Where corruption is a pastime. Where the leaders treat the citizens like slaves and where life is a mixture of hell laced with some fleeting moments of reprieve. The present state of insecurity and bombings is symptomatic of a nation in a free fall. The government must act quickly and intelligently to curtail the situation before Nigerians resort to self-help. The debate over state or community policing is long overdue. Nigeria needs to decentralize its policing system in line with universal policing trends,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria is becoming a country of lamentation but that cannot bring about the change we need unless we act.
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