Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the spate of insecurity taking place across the country is an indication that that there is no functional government in Nigeria.
The PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, who stated this yesterday, at a press briefing, in Abuja, said the level of banditry and criminality in the country is fast getting out of hand.
He noted that bloodletting and kidnapping has continued unabated across the length and breadth of the country, so much that even President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state, Katsina, is not spared.
The PDP leader recalled that last week a female foreign humanitarian worker, Faye Mooney, was shot dead in Kajuru, Kaduna State, stating that the security situation in the country has deteriorated to the extent that no one or place is safe.
Secondus added that it was unfortunate that while people are dying across the country as result of insecurity, that President Buhari has gone on a private visit to London. He stated it is obvious that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government is incompetent and clueless on how to address the security challenges facing the country. He urged the government to be humble enough to consult the opposition if they need advice on how to tackle rising insecurity in country.
According to him, the apparent incompetence of the ruling APC in the handling of affairs of governance has continued to take a huge toll on the nation. “The security situation has been such that prominent Nigerians including clerics have been raising serious concern on the issue of leadership, even questioning whether we really have a Commander-in-Chief in this country.
“While the Presidency continues to argue that there exists government in our country today, what obtains in reality is different. The level of bloodletting occasioned by the barrage of criminalities across the country can only be happening in a country without government. Things got even worse as the remaining goodwill of the people on this government vanished after it arm-twisted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), into tampering with the will of the people in the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
“There is no evidence of the presence of government in this country, as crimes of all kinds are committed all over the place and Nigerians have never lived in such great fear and trembling for their lives.”
Secondus added that it was unfortunate that rather than address issues of governance and other security challenges in the country, the government has been dissipating energies and resources to undermine democratic institutions.
“After its several attempts to hijack the legislature failed, it turned to the judiciary, ridiculing the revered third arm of the government to the point of removing their confidence. The executive backed humiliation of the head of the Judiciary, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen is a well-designed strategy by the APC administration to intimidate and coerce judicial officers particularly the judges and justices to fall in line and endorse all their undemocratic behaviours that are bound to come to the judiciary for adjudication,” he stated.