A Human Rights Activist and a Lawyer, Mr Festus Keyamo, on Wednesday said political differences was one of the major problems in the country.
Keyamo said at a seminar in Lagos that people used political differences as a platform to express their long term grievances.
The seminar organised by the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Lagos State branch, was titled: “Rising Insecurity, Child Molestation and Human Rights Violation in Lagos State: An Emergency’’.
He mentioned historical differences between the people, adding that this had been further heightened by political differences.
“People now use this platform of political differences to further express their long term grievances.
“So you will see that those who have lost elections in the country, while that grievance is behind their mind, they now use that age-long differences as a reason for their annoyance .
“Among those who have won elections, their grievances are highly tied down and expressed but because they have won elections, the differences disappeared temporary.
“For those who have lost elections, the differences and their grievances come to fore,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Keyamo as saying.
The CLO President, Mr Igho Akeregha, said in a keynote address that Nigeria needed reorganisation along true federalism so that Nigerians could reclaim their sovereignty and humanity.
“The seminar is timely because of the experiences that Nigerians are confronted with at the moment and so the topic, “Rising Insecurity, Human Rights Violation and Child Molestation’’, is a critical component that Nigerians are confronted with.
“These issues are also embedded in the constitution to create awareness for critical state actors to respect the provisions of the constitution.
“To promote human rights and ensure that state prosecution is used to guarantee freedom and security of Nigerians,’’ Akeregha said.
Mr Emmanuel Ayisire, Deputy State Commander, who represented the State Commander of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria, said the way out of insecurity in Nigeria was for government to adopt community policing.
“The solution to our several security challenges lies in our adoption of community policing as a method of policing.
“Community policing creates a new emphasis on making community members active participants in the process of solving community challenges.
“The partnership between the Police and community members is hinged on mutual trust and confidence,’’ Ayisire said. (NAN)
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