President Goodluck Jonathan has solicited the cooperation of other arms of government toward bringing an end to the Boko Haram menace in the country.
Jonathan made the call in Uyo on Monday at the 2012, 7th Senate retreat with the theme: “The National Assembly and National Security: Securing the Future for Development. ”
He said: “I believe that with the cooperation of the executive, legislature and the judiciary, we will bring the menace of Boko Haram to an end.
“We must return to politics without bitterness as propounded by late Ibrahim Waziri. The senate and the executive must work together to ensure the corporate existence of this country,’’ he said.
According to him, Nigerians deserve a country that is peaceful and progressive; the economy of the nation depends on its security, our economy is growing well.
“ We have several challenges that undermine our national security, the senate should work to ensure that we do not play politics with the nation’s security. ’’
He assured that he would continue to protect the life and property of the people as his primary responsibility, irrespective of the current challenges being experienced in the country.
The Senate President, Sen. David Mark, described the retreat as timely and urged the senators to use the retreat in finding a lasting solution to the security challenges in the country.
Mark said that if this was not done urgently, it would threaten the unity of the country, and advocated the issuance of licenses to religious preachers to checkmate false teaching.
He said that government was ready to dialogue with Boko Haram but added that they must come out and make their mission known to the people.
He appealed to the people not to resort to reprisal attack, adding that if the Boko Haram attack continued unabated, the people might not have to endure for too long.
Welcoming the President and the senators, Gov. Godswill Akpabio, said that the retreat in Uyo was divine, adding that at the end of the retreat all the afflictions in the country would be a thing of the past.
“Your visit to Uyo to find a lasting solution to the security challenges is like the visit of the Israelites to Gilgal in the Bible when they were troubled,’’ Akpabio said.
Akpabio urged security agencies to work hard to fish out the culprits causing the disunity in the country. (NAN)