Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, governor of Katsina State, says declaring a state of emergency on the rising insecurity in Nigeria will not address the current challenges.
It would be recalled that on Tuesday, the House of Representatives had asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on insecurity in Nigeria.
But speaking on the development on Thursday after meeting with Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President at the Presidential Villa, Masari noted that declaring a state of emergency will overstretch the efforts of security agencies. He urged Nigerians to view the security challenges beyond partisan politics, adding that it is a national concern. “How can state of emergency solve the problem? You have a situation where the military are in all the states of the federation, then you ask yourself, how many do we have? Are we not overstretching them?,” he asked.
He said that the reality is that it is the responsibility of all Nigerian to secure the country. “We have a role to play, and we must play it for the sake of the country and for the sake of our children and grandchildren, not for the sake of the persons that are in office. I think we have to understand that whatever we do to restore security today, we are not doing it for one particular person or group of persons, but we are doing it for all of us, for the country and in fact, for Africa. A stable Nigeria means a stable sub-Saharan Africa,” Masari said.
He noted the current security situation in the country is beyond partisan politics. “It’s a national concern for all of us — every responsible person in this country,” he said.
Asked about the state of security in Katsina State, he said the situation is improving. “We’re hopeful that working together with the security agencies and the responsible people and also the repentant bandits, we’ll be able to have our state back to normalcy,” he added.