The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Tuesday attributed the worsening insecurity in the country to a calculated effort to destroy Nigeria, vowing not to spare any effort to frustrate the attempts at dismembering the country.
Its Chairman and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who led his colleagues on a visit to Minna to sympathise with Niger State Governor, Mr. Sani Bello, over the security crisis in the state, including the abduction of 27 pupils of Government Science College, Kagara, and 15 others said, governors would fight to save the country.
Fayemi stated that the country was witnessing terrorism, and rallied all stakeholders to defeat it.
He said: “The agenda is to destroy the Federal Republic of Nigeria; let’s not make any mistake about it. That is the ultimate agenda. We will fight this agenda with every fibre in our body and indeed we will fight it in order to save our country.
“What we are witnessing is terrorism; there is no other name for it. Yes, we may call it banditry; we may call it kidnapping; these are remnants of the actors of the North-east that have found themselves in other parts of the country whether they are known as ISWAP, or Albanawi faction or known as Shekau people, they are remnants of what we are still dealing with in that part of the country.”
He charged Nigerians not to give up hope, saying: “Even in these difficult times, we must put all our efforts together, demonstrate resilience, reassure our people not to give up hope because we can only defeat terrorism collectively not in isolation.”
According to him, what Nigerians want is to sleep with their two eyes closed and not to trade blame or engage in a circle of lamentations.
Fayemi, therefore, expressed the need for everyone to come together as a country instead of engaging in a blame game either as leaders or citizens.
He also called for an improved relationship among the security agencies, adding: “The nation’s security institutions need to come together; there should be better coordination, better sharing of intelligence and a concerted arrangement and synergy that will enable us to defeat this menace.”
He said the governors had identified with the struggle of the people of Niger State in the last two weeks.
“We feel your pains we feel your fears and anxiety,” he stated, adding that the situation is not peculiar to the state.
In his remarks, Bello described the visit of his colleagues as a morale booster to the government and people of the state, saying the kidnap of the schoolchildren is an agenda to stop people from going to school, which will fail.
Bello urged the federal government to work with the states to find a lasting solution to the problems of insecurity in the country.
On the delegation were the Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong; Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal; Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRasak and their Nasarawa State counterpart, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule.
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