By Akinwale Kasali
Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, on Tuesday, described as irresponsible, the statement by the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, that Nigeria is safer under President Muhammadu Buhari than it was before him.
Frank, in a statement in Abuja, dismissed the Minister’s claim saying Nigeria is today beset with the worst form of insecurity in its history.
He was reacting to a statement by the Information Minister, where he boasted at a news conference in Abuja, that ‘despite the rising security challenges facing the nation, that Nigeria is still safer under President Muhammadu Buhari than what he met on assumption of office in 2015.’
To the former APC spokesperson, the Minister’s claim is misleading, false and irresponsible.
The Bayelsa- born political activist insisted that the country is not only faced with threats from Boko Haram but that the killings, kidnappings and communal clashes orchestrated by killer herdsmen have worsened under Buhari.
He lamented that the APC government led by Buhari has unfortunately emboldened the herdsmen to continue their heinous crimes against innocent Nigerians by using the instrument of state to shield them from prosecution.
He noted that the “refusal by the security agencies to arrest and prosecute the killer herdsmen smacks of complicity.”
According to him, “How can you say, with such irresponsible effrontery, that a country whose people are being killed in hundreds on daily basis and their properties worth billions destroyed by a group named by the Global Terrorism Index as Africa’s number one and the world’s third deadliest terrorist group, is safer under Buhari?
“There is no region in the country where these herdsmen reside that there are no killings, raping of women, kidnappings and destruction of farm lands. The most recent is in the South West.
“Nigerians can recall what these murderous herdsmen did in Benue state, where they killed scores and declared war on the people. The kidnap of over 350 Kankara school boys in Katsina state and the payment of huge ransom by Government to secure their release is a recent memory.
“Is it the terrorist Boko Haram group that the Buhari Government has contained as promised? Was it not under Buhari that insurgents abducted 110 schoolgirls from Dapchi, Yobe State?
“Till date, killer herdsmen go about with weapons, killing people, raping women and destroying farm lands with their cattle and no action has been taken by Buhari to dissuade or stop them.
“What makes it even worse is that when some of them are arrested and handed over to the Police, they are soon set free. This shows that even the security agencies are complicit. They are apparently benefiting from the rising spate of insecurity in the country.
“I, therefore, call on the International Community to come to the rescue of Nigerians. I also urge State Governors to rise to the occasion and ensure that the lives and property of their people are secured.
“I call on Nigerians to take the security of their lives and property in their hands,” he declared.
Buhari had swept into office in 2015 with a promise to keep Nigeria safe. Sadly, that has not happened.
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