FG Needs Political Will to End Growing Insecurity, Say Eminent Nigerians

•Atiku, Obi: Nigeria needs leadership with political will
•Christians, Muslims go spiritual in Niger
•UNIJOS directs immediate vacation of students from hostels
•Protesters block Abuja-Kaduna expressway over kidnapping

Chuks Okocha and Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja, Segun James in Lagos, Laleye Dipo and Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

Eminent Nigerians, yesterday, stated that government needed the to summon the political will to act decisively to end the insecurity and criminalities going on in the country.

Former vice president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi, said what Nigeria needed most to overcome the present state of insecurity was leadership and political will.

Pastor of Trinity House church and convener of Africa Leadership Group (ALG), Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, in a State of The Nation address held at the church’s premises in Victoria Island, Lagos, maintained that more decisiveness on the part of the government can end, the insecurity in the country.

Similarly, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, said the Buhari government should show more empathy in the wake of mindless killings of innocent Nigerians across the country. Kukah said rather than just issue statements, the president should act like one who felt the pain of the people.

In a related development, Christian and Muslim faithful in Niger State have resorted to seeking divine intervention in the problem of kidnapping in their communities. Adherents of the two major religions fixed special prayers for today, Sunday May 2.
In Plateau State, the management of the University of Jos directed all students to vacate the hostels in the university.

An internal memorandum signed by the university’s Deputy Registrar, Information, Mr Abdullah Abdullahi, said the development followed an emergency meeting of the university’s management with the Dean of Students Affairs, Chief Security Officer, and President of Students Union Government (SUG), and external security agencies on April 30.

Meanwhile, a massive protest, yesterday, led to the disruption of traffic along the busy Abuja-Kaduna Road. Scores of people lined up the roads protesting against the spate of kidnappings, which had created a sense of insecurity across the country.
A barricade was reportedly set up at Goni Gora in Chikum at the Kaduna end of the strategic road, which connects the northern part of the country with the south.
Atiku, who took to his verified Twitter handle, said the challenges currently facing Nigeria were enormous but surmountable.

According to him, “Yes, the challenges we face are enormous, but they are surmountable. What we need is the leadership and the will to do what is right for our country and its people.”
He explained that it is political sagacity and the right attitude that could drive investors’ confidence to tackle poverty and unemployment in the country.
“But for as long as we do not address this worsening state of insecurity, the investments needed to lift our nation out of its current abyss shall continue to elude us, unemployment will worsen, and poverty rife,” Atiku said.

On his part, Obi advised Nigerians, irrespective of party affiliation, to join hands in tackling the challenges facing the country, the major ones he listed as insecurity, poverty, and unemployment. He said Nigeria was fast becoming a failed state, adding that the downward spiral should not be allowed to continue.

The former PDP vice presidential candidate posted on his Twitter handle, “All Nigerians, irrespective of party and other affiliations, should immediately join hands to tackle the spectre of insecurity, poverty, and unemployment that are now ruling and ruining our dear country. We are fast becoming a failed state.
“We cannot allow the downward spiral to continue. The government should also urgently seek foreign help.”

Speaking on his conviction that if Buhari rose to the challenge, insecurity would be defeated, Ighodalo stated, “Insecurity across Nigeria is a clear and present danger to the wellbeing of the country.
“Terrorists and bandits and kidnappers and ritualists are on the prowl. No one is safe. Not on the road. Not in your home. There appears to be no hiding place. The chicken is home to roost. For years, the country had been planting in the wind. Now it is harvesting in the whirlwind.”
He warned, “It is only a fool, who does the same thing the same way and would expect a different result. The way Nigeria is right now is not working. A sensible thing is to course correct and save Nigeria from shipwreck.”

The pastor also had hash words for politicians, whom he accused of selfishness, greed and wickedness, saying: “Our politics is broken. There’s little doubt about this. Our political parties do not approximate the aggregation of interests and they are not driven by any discernible ideology.”
Lamenting that the experience of Nigeria had been the case of serial bungling, Ighodalo said, “A combination of many factors including lack of vision and leadership has made Nigeria a sorry case.”
He urged the people to work hard at changing the personality, character, attitude and the mind of the average Nigerian.

Kukah, who spoke at the 2021 edition of The Platform, an annual conference organised by Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos, Poju Oyemade, said Buhari should have spoken with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, last week, and not US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.

According to the Catholic priest, “Of course, all of us are angry but in my view, the challenge therefore is what kind of palliative do we need to calm our nerves and I am not talking here of the palliatives in the way and manner that we understand them but something needs to happen to send out a signal to Nigerians that things are under control.
“With the fact that we have the US Secretary of State speaking to us virtually, we would have preferred that our president spoke to the president of America rather than the Secretary of State, but anyway, half bread is better than nothing.

I want to assure that this is a sign that we are going somewhere but we need to quickly get our people together, the need to rally our people together both to support government and otherwise is very urgent. We cannot do this if our country is divided between those who love the party and those who don’t love the party. We are in a democracy and we want to believe that this democracy has to be nurtured and the best we can do is not to subvert the process but to continue to uphold the ideals before those who are in power.”

Kukah continued, “On the issue of Nigerians dying, government has come very short and this is what is increasing the pain, the agony, the sorrow of people that we are dying alone, burying our people alone and all we get are just simple statements that really say nothing to us. The lack of empathy and the deployment of empathy have consequences.
“Government must have a sense of empathy and I have said this severally and I do not mean anything negative and everywhere you turn, this is what Nigerians are saying that people are dying and you do not get a sense that those who govern us understand our pain because we have not seen them on condolence visits.

“Empathy is not sympathy, empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings; it is the feeling of the sorrow, of the pain of the other person, indeed, entering the skin of the other person. It does not bring healing immediately but there is a certain kind of psychological comfort that it gives.”
In Niger State today, adherents of the two major religions in the country – Islam and Christianity – are gathering for special prayers for the state and the country. The prayers are to be simultaneously held in churches and mosques across the state, according to directives given to church leaders by the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the League of Imams in the state.

The CAN statement was signed on behalf of the state chairman, Reverend Mathias Echioda by the Assistant Secretary Pastor Raphael Opawoye, while Malam Umar Farouq Abdullahi, Secretary, Imams forum and Director General, Bureau for Religious Affairs, initialled the document for the Muslims.
The statement by the Imams forum read in part: “Following the activities of bandits, kidnappers, terrorists and all other vile entities, which have ravaged and displaced tens of thousands of persons across villages, communities and towns in the state, the Imams’ Forum of Niger State in collaboration with traditional councils and other Islamic organisations in the state invite the Muslim Ummah to special prayer gatherings for restoration of peace to the state holding across the eight Emirate Councils”

CAN, in their statement, stated, “CAN, Niger State, is calling on all churches to set a particular time of the coming Sunday service (2/5/21) and pray for both the state and our Nation against our insecurity challenges”.
CAN further announced joint three days of prayer and fasting, commencing on Wednesday, to end on Friday.

UNIJOS Directs Immediate Vacation of Students Hostels

The management of the University of Jos, Plateau State, has directed all students to vacate the hostels in the university following security threats to the institution. An internal memorandum by the university’s deputy registrar, information, Mr Abdullah Abdullahi, said the development followed an emergency meeting of the management of the university with the Dean of Students Affairs, Chief Security Officer, and President of Students Union Government (SUG), and external security agencies on April 30.

Abdullahi said the meeting deliberated on a security report regarding threat to the university staff, students and their property, adding that the report alleged that soft targets, like the hostels, were at great risk.
The statement said, “In the light of the above, the hostels are to be closed with immediate effect. This is in the interest of the safety of students until all security measures have been perfected to protect the campuses as well as the hostels.”
The school directed that all ongoing examinations continue unhindered, though it did not indicate where the students that are vacating the hostels would put up while the exams last.

Protesters Block Abuja Kaduna Expressway over Kidnapping

People staged a massive protest yesterday along the busy Abuja-Kaduna Road against the spate of kidnappings, which has increased insecurity across the country, leading to the disruption of traffic along that axis.
The barricade was set up at Goni Gora in Chikum at the Kaduna end of the strategic road, which connects the northern part of the country with the south. The blockade on both sides of the road totally cut off traffic from Abuja and those originating from Kaduna.

The atmosphere was charged, as the youth were joined in the protest by other members of the community, including women with babies strapped on their backs.
Security operatives appeared helpless as the boisterous protesters, who shunned all entreaties to remove the barricades, interrupted the flow of traffic.
Many commuters, trucks, and articulated vehicles carrying goods to Kaduna and other parts of the country were stranded and spent several agonising hours in the traffic.