Date Published: 02/01/11

Lagos ACN challenges Federal Government ahead of the coming General Elections.

The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria has decried the increasing spates of violence and insecurity in Nigeria and said that if nothing pro-active is done to stem this negative tide, the 2011 general election is in real danger. The party blames the federal government for showing a sickening display of helplessness as Nigerians face the worst state of insecurity in its history.

In a release in Lagos, signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, the party says it is concerned that every part of the country is mired in dangerous security crisis and nothing is being done to arrest this ugly trend. It therefore calls on the federal government to quickly rise up to the security challenges to save the coming general election and arrest an obvious fracture in the polity.

“Sometimes, we wonder what is responsible for the present state of insecurity, which has engulfed the entire country at present and we wonder why nothing concrete is being done to deal with this ugly trend. We believe that whatever is firing these security crises is taking undue advantage of the seeming helplessness of the federal government which seems to have run out of ideas of how to tackle this challenge. We believe that the government must shirk from its primary responsibility to protect Nigerians wherever they live.

“We are afraid that the rising trend of crises is threatening the coming elections and we are afraid that if that happens and Nigerians are prevented from having a free and fair election in April, the peace and unity of the country will be in serious jeopardy. We are afraid that some of the cases of insecurity we have witnessed in recent times have political undertones while some are as a result of the terrible economic situation we are burdened with at present. Either way, it is our expectation that the federal government should rise to the situation and deal with the problem.

“Lagos ACN challenges the federal government to immediately adopt a pro-active approach to crime control in dealing with these rising incidences of crises all over Nigeria. We challenge the federal government to adopt a more progressive approach to poach into potential crisis flashpoints and nip them in the bud. We are convinced that the reactive approach to crises has merely worked to increase incidences of crises all over the country. We challenge the federal government to address the socio-economic and political factors that have bred these crises and fundamentally deal with them so as to make Nigeria a safe place for Nigerians.

“We urge all to rise to deal with this worsening security situation as a way of saving the 2011 general election and saving Nigeria from disintegration. We want the federal government to mobilize sufficient willpower to address the myriads of social, economic and political problems that are fuelling these crises. We believe that an equitable distribution of the resources of the country will address this problem as well as place Nigeria on a sound footing towards realizing its potentials as a sovereign nation.”