ABUJA -Delegates at the National Conference on Wednesday, bemoaned the security challenge facing the country and tasked the conference to proffer a lasting solution to the problem.
The delegates raised the concern at the resumed plenary, which continued discussions on President Goodluck Jonathan’s address.
The delegates called for a united front against the wanton killing of innocent lives and destruction of property in some parts of the country.
A former Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Coomassie, representing North-West, said that the entire Northern Nigeria and most parts of the country have been subjected to insecurity.
“There is no part of Nigeria that is not being affected by insurgency. Since 2009, the citizens of North-Eastern states are being killed and property worth billions of naira destroyed.
“We should therefore look at these issues holistically and ensure that we provide security for Nigeria,” Coomassie said.
Dr Fati Adamu, representing Kebbi, who said she was speaking as a woman and a mother, challenged the conference to take a far-reaching decision aimed at solving the security challenges.
“As mothers and as women, we carry pregnancies for nine months, endured the pains of labour, and delivered the children just for them to be slaughtered.
“We endure the pains of childbirth and we also spent sleepless nights raising these children, please enough is enough.
“As a mother and as a woman, we are pleading that whoever is involved, please stop killing our children.’’
In his contribution, Chief Edwin Clark, an elder statesman, said the insurgency in the country called for collective efforts to defeat it, irrespective of ethnic, religious or political affiliation.
“The 29 young children that died in Yobe, those who killed them did not differentiate between Christians and Muslims.
“Therefore, let us tolerate one another, let us be patriotic, we have no other country to go to.
“If you are a northerner or a southerner and we do not live together, then there will be no Nigeria; there will be no basis for us to come here,” Clark said.
Brig- Gen Muhammad Ali (rtd), representing Zamfara, said that the security situation in the country has deteriorated adding, “life is not worth a penny anymore.
“The 1999 constitution states that the security and the welfare of the citizens shall be the primary responsibility of the government.
“Therefore, the nation has to wake up to its constitutional responsibility by safeguarding lives and property,” he said.
Ali also tasked the nation’s security agencies to stick to their constitutional duties in their efforts to contain the security challenge.
He, therefore, called for a complete overhaul of the security agencies to ensure that they face their constitutional responsibilities accordingly.(NAN)
