Amidst the controversy trailing the recent tweet made by President Muhammadu Buhari on insecurity in Nigeria, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), yesterday, accused the president of heating the polity more.
He spoke at a security summit, themed: ‘21st Century Policing, Intelligence and Crisis Management’, organised by civil group, Police Eminent Persons Forum, PEPF, at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, in Lagos.
Falana, who was the guest speaker at the event, blamed President Buhari for being insensitive to the plights of Nigerians, noting that his said tweet was uncalled for.
He said: “I read the tweet by the president, which is causing controversy. The context is to the effect that we fought a civil war and the president took part in that war. I thought the president was going to apologise for the errors of that war, and that the government has not carried the aggrieved people along, since the war, in the affairs of our country, and the members of the ruling class have shattered their dreams of this country. Instead, the tweet was the opposite.”
He, however, said the president was wrong to dismiss those calling for separation adding that: “If they believe one Nigeria has not served them well and has imposed injustice on them, your duty as a government is to explain to them and make them see a brighter future. But, when a government arrogantly talks down on the people, there is a problem for that country.”’
Besides, he said: “Our children know nothing about the civil war, because history has been taken out from the school syllabus, and so for young people, who are attracted to war and preaching the gospel of hate, they have never been taught about the evils of war. Young men and women in the South-East have not been made to realise what people went through during the civil war.’
“So, what the president should have done was to find a way to embrace them and find out how to resolve their grievances through persuasion.”
On his part, former Director, Department of State Services, DSS, Mr. Mike Ejiofor, decried the increasing security failures in Nigeria.
Ejiofor said: “It is general knowledge that our nation is passing through a perilous time at this period of her national life.
This is due to persistent security challenges that have seemingly defied all therapies as it were. Our nation’s challenges are not insurmountable as it is often presented but is rather not handled with the sincerity that it demands.”
VANGUARD
