Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that the spate of insecurity in the country is politically motivated and targeted at derailing the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Akpabio made the remark when he visited the National Secretary, All Progressives Congress (APC), Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, James Akpanudoedehe, at the party’s secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, assuring that the storm will soon be over.
Asked what he thought about the cause of the high level insecurity in the country, he replied: “The issues of insecurity for me has already assumed a very worrisome dimension, if you notice, it is not limited to one region, it is not a function of North East, it is not a function of South East, even in the South South, even in my own local government.
“If you read everyday what is happening in Benue state and other State, we have never in the history of this nation witnessed where people in uniform are targeted for elimination. That will show you that we have infiltrators in our midst.
“The security of our neighboring countries must also remain a priority, because all these heavy arms entering into Nigeria when Libya failed, when Mammah Gadafi was taken out, and people looted the arms. If you enter Chad or Niger Republic, just like you buy petrol in Nigeria by the roadside, you can pickup any arm you want. So, that has led to very heavy arms entering into the wrong hands.
“In the Niger Delta region, we have been able to contain the situation, with the amnesty programme, and as I speak today, I think that is the most peaceful region today in the country. The area is very calm and we intend to keep it as such.
“So, there are many reasons that people can ascribe to it, if you say oh! youths are unemployed, no! because many of the people that are undertaking the insecurity are not even unemployable. They are not even interested in employment, some of them are on the bases of ideology and all sorts of things. So, I think most of it are from outside influence.
“Most of the actions you see today are politically motivated, to try to derail the government but the government will be deterred. And there is nothing that lasts forever, you know that everything that goes up must come down. So the insecurity you are seeing today, you will not see it again.
“We also, in my view, I think most of the problems are politically motivated, so we must use our binoculars to be able to look to dictate the sponsors of the insecurity that we are witnessing in the country. What is happening now is not Nigeria, this is unNigeria. As far as I am concerned, right from when I was a kid in federal government college, we were taught the unity and oneness of this country. Many fought the civil war and died to keep this country together and handed over the country to us, as leaders today, we must do everything possible, even through advice , to make sure that Nigeria remains United. I believe in the oneness of Nigeria and I believe that I will bequeat a better Nigeria to my children and the future generations to come,” he assured.
On the reports of his bitter relationship with Akpanudoedehe, he said: “Let me give you an example, you heard about the Rwandan genocide. It started with one person with a rumour that an ethnic nationality has killed another ethnic nationality, and over one million lives were lost, and it was at the end of the war that it was discovered that the rumour never happened.
“What it means is that we have to be careful about what we read, and we have to be careful about what we chun out. Yes, breaking news is good but breaking news should not break the nation. So, there has never been anytime we had issues together, we have never quarrelled with one another, in fact, we have always cooperated with one another, if anything, he will use his mouth to tell you how we used to dance Kokoma, holding hands together, then we go down and come up again.
“All these things happened in 2019 elections, when we tried to install the APC government in Akwa-Ibom State, untill there was a conflict from both within and without, and that efforts was shattered. I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.
On the possibility of APC winning Akwa-Ibom, he simply said: “Because I am a former governor, I am not really allowed to speak about governors. I think the party Secretary will be in the best position to answer that question because he has all the strategies to back the party party to succeed.”