West Africa Countries are Worried over Nigeria’s Insecurity – OBJ
As part of his efforts to address the insecurity challenge in the South-West states and Nigeria at large, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday, held a closed-door meeting with Fulani community leaders from the South-West states including Kwara and Kogi states under the aegis of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association.
The meeting, held at the private residence of the former president in Abeokuta, Ogun State, was also attended by the son of the immediate past Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewale, Dayo, who was a victim of kidnapping recently in Oyo State and Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Secretary of pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere.
In a communique issued by the leader of the Fulani delegation, Sale Bayari, before the meeting that lasted for about two hours, the group said the problem of Fulani herdsmen bordered on criminality and insecurity, pointing out that for peace to reign, the people must start talking to each other with a view to finding a practical solution to the insecurity challenges threatening the peace of the nation.
The group maintained that the Fulani have both good and bad people, stressing that the action of bad Fulani should not be used against all the Fulani.
It noted that there were Fulani in other countries in West Africa that have problems including in Senegal, Guinea, Mali and even Niger, adding that “there appears to be complacency among some public institutions such as the security and judiciary, where reported cases are not taken seriously and dealt with justly and promptly.
“From all the evidences, among those who perpetrate these crimes, there are both non-Fulani and Fulani. We should begin to do things differently and in a way bring them out for sanctions. It is important to call upon leaders who failed to do what they are supposed to do. Fulani who know the criminals among them must expose and report them to the appropriate institutions, so must other ethnic groups,” it stated.
While speaking, Obasanjo noted that some elements had infiltrated the herdsmen, just as he expressed worries over the rising security issues across the South-West.
Obasanjo also noted that the problem of insecurity in Nigeria had become a source of worry to other African countries.
He said that winning the war against insecurity in the country is a collective responsibility and urged all to stop blaming any individual or group, saying Nigeria is presently in darkness and needs a “shining light” to overcome it.
He said: “None of us here will say he doesn’t know what has been happening, what has been reported and what is being reported about insecurity in our country generally. I believe that whatever that we are able to discuss will be taken as a model in other zones.
“I want to learn from you and I hope you will learn from me and at the end of the day, we will be all wiser and we will be able to determine what should be the way forward for us to get rid of bad things in our community.
“Let me tell you some of the reasons for our meeting. What has been happening in Nigeria, particularly in this area, the South-West, we have got a lot of bad things happening here, let us not deceive ourselves. We have got a lot of heat, not enough light. Without adequate light, we may not be able to deal with the problem the way we want to and find solution to it.
“Secondly, we are all in darkness, all of us. We need to be in the light. And those who may want to choose to be in darkness and want to deceive themselves, we can leave them in darkness but majority of us have to be in the light and let the light shine upon us so that we can see our faces, we can see ourselves as we are. Where we are naked, let us see ourselves as naked, where we are half covered, let us see ourselves as half covered, where we are fully clothed, let us see ourselves as fully clothed.
“We are also going about among ourselves with history, some of the histories are the histories we need not perpetrate. We are going about with myths, we are not going about with reality. We are going about with lack of clarity. So what we want to do is to push aside myth and talk about reality, we want to talk about clarity. We want to see things clearly the way they are.
“There is criminality, there is insecurity and it has not been like that before. If this is what we have, what we want to do at this meeting is to find solutions.”
He advocated peace among Nigerians irrespective of tribes and religion, insisting that Nigeria’s unity remains sacrosanct.
“We want to have peace, we want to have security, we want to have harmony, we want to have wholesomeness, we want to have progress. How can we have these? We want to move Nigeria forward, irrespective of tribe, religion, ethnicity, trade, profession, where I come from, where you come from.
“How can we together move Nigeria forward? And there is nobody else who will do all these for us. It is you, we, all of us here and all our brothers and sisters wherever they may be in Nigeria.
“It is not one man’s job or one person’s job or one group’s job, it is a job for all of us, all Nigerians and unless and until we see it that way, we should stop passing blame. Everybody is wrong and everybody is right. Let us take what is right in one group and join in what is right in other group and throw away what is wrong in all the groups.
“Our brothers and sisters in West Africa are worried about our situation. They are wondering if Nigeria cannot manage its security. If Nigeria’s security is endangered, how can they look up to Nigeria who they normally see as big brother that can be called upon to come and help them if they are in any type condrum? So they are worried.
“We are here to assure them, to assuage their worry to be able to say yes, we are Nigerians, we can deal and we will deal with our security problem and any other problem that we need to deal with,” he said.
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