Rising Insecurity: Let’s end the blame game- Obasanjo

Ebun Francis|

Elder statesman, Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday called on Nigerians to stop the culture of “passing blame” and think of a lasting solution to the security menace in the country.

The former president also noted that the solutions to the nation’s security challenges should not be left to one person to address, adding that it is not what one man can tackle alone.

Obasanjo made the declaration when he hosted leaders of the Gan-Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria (GAFDAN), an umbrella group for Fulani organisations, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Obasanjo said, “We are all in darkness, all of us, we are in the darkness. We need to be in the light. I want to learn from you; I hope you will learn from me too. And at the end of the meeting, we will be able to proffer solutions to the happenings in the region.”

At the end of the meeting, a communique was issued stating that all the participants agreed that there was need to find a solution to the rising insecurity in the land.

The communique read, “It is critical for us as a people to start talking to each other with a view to find the practical solutions to deal with the challenges. One of the problems worrying the society is the problem of cover-ups and denials by both community and public institutional leadership that ought to expose these problems and deal with them.”

“Stigmatization and victimization of a group of people, in this case, the Fulani is of grave concern. The Fulani have both good and bad people. The action of bad Fulani should not be taken against all the Fulani.

“Fulani are also victims of kidnapping, banditry, cattle rustling and loss of property etc. There are other tribes who feel so in Yorubaland, and there are Yoruba who feel so in other geo-political regions of Nigeria. So the idea of moving tribal groups en masse from one geo political region to another is impracticable and should not be talked about by leaders. g. We have to work as one community through our various efforts and responsibilities to protect and safeguard the interest of the community.”

Present at the meeting were, Yinka Odumakin, spokesman of Afenifere, Dayo Adewole, son of former minister of health who was recently kidnapped in Oyo state, and Sale Bayari, GAFDAN national chairman, who led delegates of the association, drawn from south-west states, Kogi and Kwara states.