Immediate past Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has joined the league of other angry Nigerians currently condemning the recent massacre of over 50 police officers by some cultists in Nasarawa State.
Atiku asked those behind the ugly incident not to drag Nigeria into another state of anarchy.
He said that if the Police had now become vulnerable, then, the entire nation was at a grave risk.
Atiku in a statement by his media office in Abuja on Friday, said he was deeply devastated at the incident in Eggon, Nasarawa State, where scores of policemen and officers of Department of State Security, DSS,were killed by the Ombatse cultists.
He described the incident as the worst single attack on policemen and DSS officials in recent times, adding that the attack also posed one of the greatest dangers to innocent citizens who were supposed to be protected by the police.
According to him, “Citizens participation is essential to effective crime prevention. At this period of widening dimension of criminality and lawlessness, if the force is vulnerable, then, the entire country is at grave risk. As trained security agents to stem or eliminate criminality in the society, any threats to the lives of the police, inevitably pose grave dangers to the lives of fellow Nigerians.”
He condemned what he tagged as deliberate targeting of security men by criminal groups and gang who had continually engaged in massive killing and wanton destruction of property.
He further lamented the uncontrolled emergence of criminals that now threaten law and order, saying the threat must be collectively confronted by Nigerians, rather than abdicating the responsibility to the security agents alone.
Similarly, former Commissioner in Enugu State and leader of the opposition, Save Enugu Group, SEG, Mr. Ray Nnaji, condemned the mass killing of policemen in Nasarawa State, saying that time had come for President Goodluck Jonathan to convene a national conference for Nigerians to look into the current development in the country and decide on the way forward.
“The issue of insecurity in parts of the country, particularly the north is getting out of hand and there seems not to be any solution in sight. It is even more worrisome to hear the insurgents threatening to move to the Southern parts of the country while some groups in the South are threatening to retaliate any attack in the region.
“From all indications, the issue of insecurity is a by-product of numerous problems, like unemployment and corruption in the country. These should be tackled with vigour.
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