By Lawrence Olaoye
Former National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Chairman, Board of Nigeria Railway Corporation (NCR), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday expressed bitterness over the bomb blast that killed 21 people in Abuja on Wednesday and insisted that dialogue remained answer to insurgency in the country.
Tukur, who spoke with journalists in Abuja, noted that all the wars fought in the past ended up in dialogue.
Tukur, who was recently made Ambassador-at- large and honoured with Zik Award said,” dialogue is the answer, let us make is faster to save the lives of people.”
The former chairman of PDP called for the strengthening of the nation’s defence and also urged Nigerians to always expose the tendency of people who may want to commit atrocity.
He appealed to federal government to reach out to the neighboring countries to address the problem of insurgency.
He said: “We are part of this nation, patriotism is very important, we see what is going on and people are being killed mercilessly. We should strengthen our defence. The security people are doing their own and we should do our own because security is the responsibility of every body.
“We should equip our army, police and all the security agencies. We should dialogue with these people (insurgents). We should reach out to our neighbouring countries. Let us strengthen our defence.
“We must do all we can to ensure that our nation is safe. Wars that were fought in the past end up in dialogue. All the insurgencies one way or the other must end up in dialogue.”
Tukur, who prayed that God should touch the minds of the insurgents so as to stop their nefarious activities, noted that journalists are facing challenges in this period of insecurity, but however called for one minute silence in honour of the late Managing Editor, Northern operation of Telegraph newspaper, who was killed in Abuja bomb blast on Wednesday.
Speaking on the build-up to 2015, the Chairman of NRC board, called on politicians to stop overheating the polity stressing that election should not be a do-or-die affair adding that the people should be allowed to make their choice.
“There should be no imposition. Election not selection. Consensus not imposition. We must ensure we conduct peaceful elections. This is not the first election and it will not be the last election. Why can’t we improve on what we have done rather than make it worse. We should not overheat the polity.
“Opposition is normal but it should be issue based; it should not be a fight; it should not be negative in nature. We do not want dictatorship,” he said.
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