Nigeria is at a crossroad, under threat, say Lawan, Gbajabiamila
The Leadership of the National Assembly rose in unisom on Wednesday with the conclusion that the Nigerian nation was at a crossroads and under serious threat from the current security challenges across the country.
Both the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila both agreed that the very essence of the existence of the Nigerian nation was under serious threat.
Speaking at a three day National Security Summit organized by the House of Representatives Special Adhoc Committee on National Security, the National Assembly presiding Officers also agreed that it was high time Nigerians work together in one accord irrespective of ethnic, political, or religious affiliation to save the country from the impending catastrophe.
The summit which was earlier scheduled to begin on Monday was shifted to Wednesday in honor of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru, and 10 others who died in a plane crash in Kaduna.
Lawan said: “I want to say here that Nigeria is at crossroads today. The very essence of the existence of this country is under serious threat. What started as an insurgency in 2009 or so in the North-Western part of Yobe has now snowballed into a full-scale insurgency in the entire northeast.
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“What was not known to us in the North West is now today the home of banditry and kidnapping. The North Central, as we all know is not safe. It suffers clashes between the herders and our farmers.
“And the recent introduction in the southeast is another serious threat to the existence of this country where government institutions are targeted, our police and security agencies are being killed on a daily basis. Our institutions and buildings are burnt.
“I believe that these are threats, not only to those areas but the entire nation. Our armed forces are doing their best. I must commend our armed forces and other security agencies for doing so much with the little we are able to give them.
“The National Assembly has always been on the side of giving the kind of support, either legislative or the kind of financial support that our armed forces and indeed all other security agencies require, even though we have our limits.”
The Senate President who is also the Chairman of the National Assembly said the essence of the summit is to look for ways of improving the performance of the nation’s armed forces and other security agencies, insisting that “this summit is essential because we are tested as a country, we are tested as a people.
