INSECURITY: ‘Your Intervention Is Selfish, Unpatriotic’ APC Finally Replies Obasanjo

In what can be interpreted as a response to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has criticized the “reckless and provocative statements” of some leaders regarding the country’s insecurity.

The APC expressed worry over what it described as the “unpatriotic” and “selfish” antics of some leaders and interests who ascribe criminality in the country to a certain ethnic group.

The ruling party said this after Obasanjo dished out another open to President Buhari, where he lamented the situation in which criminality in the country is “being perceived as a ‘Fulani’ menace unleashed by Fulani elite.”

The former president’s open letter came after the Afenifere socio-political group suggested that Fulani herdsmen were responsible for the recent killing Mrs Funke Olakunri, who is the leader of the Afenifere group along the Osun-Ore road in Osu State.

Obasanjo had recommended that President Buhari, being “a Fulani elite and the current captain of the Nigeria ship,” should summon a national dialogue where herdsmen in the country can table their grievances and have them addressed as part of efforts to address the country’s insecurity.

“Whatever may be the grievances of Fulanis, if any, they need to be put out in the open and their grievances, if legitimate, be addressed; and if other ethnic groups have grievances, let them also be brought out in the open and addressed through debate and dialogue,” Obasanjo had said in the letter.

But the APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, on Wednesday, said criminality has no tribe in the eyes of the law.

The ruling party said while it joins well-meaning Nigerians to extend condolences to the family of Pa Reuben Fasoranti over the killing of his daughter, there was the need to address the “provocative” statements of some interests on the matter.

The statement partly reads: “Inciting actions and rhetorics are counterproductive and dangerous particularly in a multi-ethnic country such as ours. Terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and other crimes must be condemned by all. There is nothing like an Isoko, Gwari or Awori robber because criminality has no tribe in the eyes of the law.

“We must remind ourselves that many of the recorded genocides all over the world started through unchecked prejudices and systematic profiling of racial, political and cultural groups. God forbid our dear country descends into such savagery.

“We reject the notion of a Nigeria where any ethnic group is unwelcome in any part of the country. Every Nigerian must be free to live and work in safety anywhere in the country.

The ruling party said, “Our leaders have an important duty to be temperate in their language and actions. We must be wary of partisan individuals, many of whom formerly occupied elective positions but failed to tackle many of the criminalities we face today. We must be wary of these leaders who now play to the gallery to incite, spread hate and intolerance in the country. Their interventions are not patriotic but in pursuance of their political and selfish interests.

The APC further urged the Buhari administration, the National Assembly, religious, traditional, political leaders to discard, “these unpatriotic antics. We may not agree on some issues in our national life, but we must continue to explore all peaceful and legitimate avenues to tackle our challenges and find amicable commonground to our disputation. Finally, we also call on relevant security agencies to intensify ongoing effort to rid the country of crime, particularly the violent type.”