HARRY AKANDE, HOPE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SEEK SECURITY REFORM

By NBF News

ALL Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential aspirant, Harry Akande, has condemned the increasing rate of political violence in the country, saying it is inimical to national development.

Also, the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) has blamed the recent spate of bomb blasts on bad governance and canvassed an overhaul of the entire security system in the country.

Akande, in a statement by his Media Relations Officer, Olusola Ayanwale, yesterday also lamented the recent political imbroglio in Oyo State that claimed the life of the factional leader of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) State Council, Alhaji Lateef Salako (alias Eleweomo), describing the incident as 'barbaric and wasteful.'

He decried the new year eve explosion at the Mammy Market of the Mogadishu Military Cantonment in Abuja, saying it was 'a rude shock, as well as height of insensitivity on the part of the perpetrators.'

The ANPP presidential aspirant also described the recent bomb blasts in Jos, Plateau State, as 'a cowardly, strange and inhumane behaviour.'

Akande said the series of bombings have raised questions as to whether there was any security in the country at all.

He stated that he was grieved with the alarming nature of politics-related clashes in the country, adding that these portrayed Nigeria as a 'crisis ridden and insecure nation.'

According to Akande, 'violence is nothing but an instrument of destruction and not in any way productive to national development, which politics as an art of public administration is known for.'

Also, the presidential candidate of the HDP, Ambrose Owuru, described as 'disheartening,' a situation whereby government has continued to fail Nigerians in its primary responsibility of protecting lives and taking care of the citizenry.

Owuru told The Guardian in Port Harcourt yesterday that the heads of all security agencies in the country ought to be sanctioned because the entire system under their watch has proven to be inexcusably porous.

His words: 'The intelligence gathering is weak. They just sit there and allow things to happen. They are only reactionary; they are not proactive. They do not plan. Technology is changing and so is the level of crime. They ought to measure up.

'The security people are ill-equipped and not properly trained and that is why we are hearing of Americans coming to assist us. There is need for complete overhaul of the system and even the government.'

Owuru argued that insecurity has persisted because the Nigerian state has been in the hands of inexperienced leadership at all levels of government.

He said: 'The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government has failed Nigerians. They are the architects of all these problems. The state of insecurity is as a result of bad governance. They have not shown good leadership and responsibility.'