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…Seeks creation of National Boarders Protection Force
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Disturbed by worsening level of insecurity in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to adopt the use of technology in the fight against insurgency, banditry and all forms of criminality in the land.
The main opposition party has equally
harped on the pertinent need for the creation of National Boarders Protection Force to secure the nation’s borders.
The National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus made the call at a world press conference addressed yesterday in Abuja.
Secondus, who was supported by other leaders of the party, including a serving governor, former governors, Senators and national officers lamented the activities of non-state actors who in his words, have killed hundreds of Nigerians in the past few months.
The press conference was attended by top PDP members including Governor Darius Ishaku, Senator Bukola Saraki, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, Senator Dino Melaye, Achike Udenwa, Alhaji Waziri Maina amongst others.
Secondus similarly frowned at President Buhari’s management of the nation’s diversity, pointing out that until there is official eagerness to unite the diverse ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria; the nation would be worse for it.
The PDP national chairman also queried federal government’s management of the economy, advising the President to let go of arrogance and seek help in the midst of multiple challenges facing the nation.
His words, “We call for the deployment of technology in the fight against terror, banditry, and other crimes.
“The PDP demands that all culprits should be brought to book.
“The apparent failure of intelligence to track attacks by bandits and follow up on them is a clear failure of the intelligence community.
“The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited NIGCOMSAT, established many years ago by a PDP administration, is designed for this purpose and others.
“It is very clear that Nigeria is on the precipice with arms-bearing non-state actors menacingly overrunning our state and its institutions and daily eroding our sovereignty.
“These perilous situations have manifested through terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, arson, and inexplicable murderous rampage across our nation. “Government’s monopoly over legitimate coercive powers has been compromised and torpedoed, with criminal gangs let loose across our nation.
“It is unimaginable that terrorists, who had been pushed out to the fringes by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, leading to the successful elections of 2015, have since boldly reasserted themselves and are now taking territories in five local governments of Niger State, which is only two hours from Abuja”, he lamented.
The PDP National Chairman drew the attention of the world to the lamentations of two governors,who incidentally are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, saying the Boko Haram sect, contrary to claims of government is now more daring than it was before the advent of the Buhari-led administration in 2015.
Secondus said, “It is important to note that the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufal-Rufai, who by his position, is armed with credible intelligence, raised the alarm that terrorists and bandits were making inroads into the towns in Kaduna state.
“Also noteworthy is the alarm raised by the Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Sule Abdullahi, that Boko Haram were occupying territories in his state.
“A strategic and intelligent interpretation of these is that Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, FCT, is surrounded.
“Presently, the nation has witnessed an upsurge of kidnapping in the FCT, further giving vent to the assertions of the governors,” he pointed out.
Speaking on the oddue of the nation’s
economy, the PDP National Chaorman disclosed that the nation’s debt burden has since risen to N32.9 trillion, noting that the only economic management tool known by the Buhari-led government is “mind-boggling borrowing.”
He claimed that President Buhari borrows “for recurrent expenditure as well as for consumption.”
The visibly unhappy National Chairman of PDP said further, “The incompetence and absence of a clear policy for the economy is fast leading us into the woods of insolvency, which was recently confirmed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC’s confession that it would not be able to make remittances to the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, for the month of April as well as the confusing response of government regarding the appropriate use of Ways and Means (printing money) to address our mounting economic challenges.
“It is also very clear that despite the whimsical closure and reopening of borders, the supposed consumption of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, alone has increased from about 30 million litres in 2015 to over 60 million litres even when the production capacity of the economy has seriously diminished. “Many companies and businesses have dumped Nigeria for neighbouring countries because of an apparent inclement operational environment.
“Further source of worry is the exchange rate that was at N180 to a dollar in 2014, now stands at nearly N500 to a dollar contrary to the APC’s propaganda-laden promise of matching a dollar to one naira.”
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