By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Disturbed by the continued terrorist attacks, banditry and other violent crimes ravaging the country, representatives of prominent civil society groups have blamed the situation on the Nigerian elites.
They also berated the National Assembly for not doing enough to pass resolutions on the floor of their chambers that will compel the government to tackle insecurity in Nigeria squarely.
The trio of Auwal Rafsanjani,
Executive Director, CISLAC; Ms Ene Obi, Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria and Austin Aigbe, Senior Programme Officer, CDD, who were guests of African Independent Television (AIT) breakfast programme Kakaaki on Monday, are unanimous in the condemnation of the Nigerian elites role in the festering of insecurity in Nigeria.
Speaking on the topic: ‘State of the Nation’, Rafsanjani alleged that the Nigerian elites have refused to address the insecurity question, adding that they are just paying lip service to insecurity question.
According to him, “criminality and criminals are one. They should not be mixed up with religion, tribe and tongue. The elites are found culpable of the mix up in order to take advantage of the less privileged Nigerians”.
Rafsanjani accused the elites of using the ordinary citizens to gain political relevance only to abandon them and later turn around to set them against fellow oppressed while the elites sit together to share the common wealth of the country.
He however said the spate of insecurity in Nigeria is not found in the neighbouring countries of Niger Republic and Republic of Chad because their leaders have stood firm against crimes and criminality even as he decried the huge inflows of arms and ammunition in Nigeria.
He also said that he is against granting amnesty to bandits and terrorists.
Also speaking on the same topic , Ene Obi of ActionAid Nigeria called on the federal government to declare State of Emergency in states where insecurity have worsened in the recent time.
She argued that unless the Constitution and Rule of Law are adhered to insecurity will continue to escalate in Nigeria.
In his own submission, Austin Aigbe, senior programme officer, CDD said his organization has been calling on the federal government to declare State of Emergency in Nigeria.
But he berated NASS for calling on the Executive arm of government to declare State of Emergency in Nigeria, pointing out that the role of NASS is to pass Resolutions that will compel the government to tackle insecurity headlong rather than calling on the Executive to declare State of Emergency in Nigeria.
