ANYAOKU TO BUHARI, NASS: Stop living in denial of dangers facing Nigeria

Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, on Tuesday sent a message to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly over the worrying insecurity in Nigeria.

He said President Buhari, members of the National Assembly, governors, and political elite in the country should stop living in denial of current threats in the country, which if not effectively addressed, are “bound to push the country over the brink of a national disaster”.

Anyaoku spoke on Tuesday, at a book launch entitled ‘Dadi, the Man, the Legend’, written by Dillibe Onyeama, in honour of a former judicial icon, Justice Dadi Onyeama, in Abuja.

Anyaoku pleaded with Buhari and the National Assembly to take decisive actions to nip the situation in the bud before it destroys the country.

He said,  “Let me now come to my message to President Buhari and all members of our National Assembly. The message is two-faced: Nigeria is on the brink; and our foremost national challenge is the management of our country’s diversity.

“Every diverse federal country throughout the world achieves political stability and socio-economic development through successfully managing its national diversity. There are two common keys to this. The first is having an inclusive central government which gives the peoples of the component parts of the federation a sense of belonging that in turn underpins the sense of unity and patriotism in all the citizens.

“The second is having adequate delegation of powers to the federating units to enable them handle their internal security and significant aspects of their socio-economic development.

“However, today, Nigeria is on the brink. For no objective observer, including those in the government, can deny that the current state of affairs in our country is extremely worrisome.

“We see an unprecedented diminution of national unity; we see an unprecedented level of insecurity of life and property with kidnappings and killings of human beings occurring virtually every day in many parts of the country, including the seemingly unchecked violence by Fulani herdsmen which has spawned fractious controversies over the proposed Ruga policy by the federal government.

READ ALSO: Return to the North, NEF, CNG orders Fulani herdsmen

“For the sake of peace and integrity of the country, the Ruga policy must be handled with circumspection and strictly in accordance with our extant constitution’s provisions on land tenure.  And, we see that all these unwholesome developments are accompanied by a worsening level of poverty that is leading to Nigeria fast becoming the poverty capital of the world.

“I call on our President, members of the National Assembly, governors, and, indeed, on all our political elite not to continue to live in denial of the seriousness of these glaring facts, if not effectively addressed, are bound to push the country over the brink of a national disaster.”

Anyaoku’s message is coming on the heels of former President Obasanjo’s latest open letter to Buhari, warning him of the threats the current insecurity in Nigeria portends if not urgently addressed.

 

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