Escalating insecurity orchestrated to undermine Nigeria’s democracy -Akpabio

Senate President Godswill Akpabio says the worseninginsecurity in the country is an orchestrated attempt to undermine Nigeria’sdemocracy. Akpabio spoke on Wednesday during a plenary session onnational security. He said the attacks should not be interpreted as persecutionagainst any religious group. “This is orchestrated, this is organised, and this is meantto damage the image of democracy. And all these things started with just atweet from President Trump,” he said. He added that some persons are now calling for foreigninvolvement in Nigeria’s internal affairs. “People are trying to justify or call on the Americanpresident to come here and attack people,” he said. “You know very well that there is nothing like targetedMuslims or targeted Christians. The bullets that are being sprayed will notdistinguish who is a Muslim and who is a Christian.” Akpabio said all criminal elements must be treated as acommon threat, regardless of who they target. “If we have miscreants who are going after Christians, thenwe go after them. We have miscreants who are killing Muslims, we go afterthem,” he said. The presiding officer added that Nigeria’s religiousdiversity must not be weaponised. “Nigeria is a multifaceted religious country. We cannot comehere and try to say, oh, one group is being attacked, the other group is notbeing attacked,” he said. “What we are seeing here is an attack on all religions. It’san attack on all citizens of the country. It’s an attack on the democracy ofour country. It’s an attack on Nigerian citizens. It’s an attack on Nigeriangovernment.” The senate president called on lawmakers to unite inconfronting the menace. “So we must rise up to the occasion, debate and point outthe reality. Let the world know that we want to be safe,” he said. He said the legislature will continue to recommend solutionsto the executive. “These are things we must bring out and forward to theexecutive, so they can join us to fight these people,” he said. On Wednesday, the senate commenced moves to classifykidnapping as a terrorism offence under the Terrorism (Prevention) Act,proposing the death penalty for perpetrators.

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