ABUJA – The Ekiti State governor-elect, Mr Ayo Fayose, on Thursday condemned the spate of bombings in parts of Nigeria and urged Nigerians to be security conscious and protect themselves.
Fayose told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that Nigerians should be responsible for their security as no one was to be blamed for insecurity.
He noted that blaming the government in power or the security personnel “for the recklessness of certain individuals’’ is uncalled for because “security is not about government alone’’.
“Before you say ‘Jack’ they say the security of the country is bad. Security is not about government alone. Somebody carried bomb and bombed certain areas.
“They must have taken off from somewhere. Some people must have sold those devices to them. Some people must have sold those cars to them.
“I think, blaming anybody for the recklessness of certain individuals who have decided to hold this nation to ransom should not be blamed on the government.
“Jonathan or his government or the people running his government cannot be everywhere at the same time. Even policemen cannot be everywhere at the same time.
“And if the police want to take action, if soldiers want to take action they (activists) will come with human rights.
“In my opinion the security of Nigerians is in the hands of Nigerians. A society determines what kind of government it wants.’’
On the issue of security vote, the governor-elect said for situations such as emergencies, it should not be expunged but that governors should be made to account for whatever they spend.
Fayose said the money ought to provide instant relief and stability when the need arose because at such times it would be difficult to get any approval from the National Assembly on what to spend.
“You may say they are not well managed but at the same time how much money are you providing for police from the centre?
“We only need to ensure that we make people accountable continuously on this matter.
“If you tell Jonathan now about security vote with the same kind of security challenges, how will he manage it?
“So he has to go to the same House of Reps that is not friendly. You don’t know how many lives will be consumed because of that?
“So certain things may not look the way they ought to be but they are like that for reasons we all know.
“Security vote must stay. I say no to state police. What is important is that Nigeria is growing and as long as we are talking about these issues nobody can openly steal in Nigeria anymore.
“Before the anti-corruption war you can do anything and get away, you can equally write government cheque and put it in your account and nobody will ask you questions.
“But nobody dares do such anymore, we will grow out of all these things overtime.’’
(NAN)
