•‘It’s to destabilise govt’
ALL Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Chairman (South) Segun Oni has accused some “frustrated and rich politicians” of sponsoring Fulani herdsmen to carry out attacks on communities.
According to him, the attacks were aimed at destabilising the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Oni, who made the claim in an interview in his office at the APC National Secretariat, noted that the attacks have become frequent and spreading across the country.
He insisted that the attacks were being sponsored by “people, who have so much money and want to create instability” in the polity.
Expressing concern over the development, the former Ekiti State governor said: “These gunmen, who suddenly become so notorious in invading villages and so on, are people that have always been around. But my guess, many of these people are sponsored by people, who have so much money and want to create instability.
“I believe that many of these attacks have political motives and sponsored by people who just want to trouble the government of the day.
“It is very difficult; you will just hear one version here today and another strike there tomorrow – like organised snipers and so on. It is also a way of saying that what we are battling with is not ordinary.”
Oni gave the government a pass mark in the fight against the security challenges, adding that the military has decimated the Boko Haram insurgents.
He called on Nigerians to support the security agencies to consolidate on the success so far achieved.
He said: “One thing we can say for sure is that Boko Haram has been mutilated. I believe the average Nigerian can see that, can feel that and understand that.
“Whatever is left of it, let us encourage the security agencies to move ahead. I don’t think the security situation is as terrible as it used to be right now. Therefore, as far as security is concern, I would say that we have earned the past mark; but we can do better.
He described Buhari’s threat to treat the Niger Delta militants like the Boko Haram as a warning from a father to his children.
“I think it is a warning. Sometimes, a father would warn his child not to cross the line. Let us see it in good style. Let us try and calm nerves down because the President is the president of everybody and it is in our own interest that things must run normal.
“I believed that such warning and such body language would also have a way of encouraging people, who genuinely want to see peace, to go for it”.
The politician said Nigerians were right to expect so much from the APC-led Federal Government.
But added that there was no magic way out of the problems facing the country.
He said: “The economy was trumatised by a government, whose only agenda was to win another round of election. Therefore, everything that could be done to win a second round of election, including bastardising the economy, were done and that led us to where we are today.
“The reality on ground is that if the previous government were still in power, Nigeria would have virtually packed up and may be many of us would have been refugees by now. It is very easy not to remember where we are coming from.
“The APC was elected to do the impossible and we will do our best. I just want to plead that people should give us more realistic expectation. This economy must work; we must get Nigeria back.
“But it is not as quick as anybody could imagine of by the touch of a hand. So, people are entitled to their expectation. But as a government, we will do our best to ensure that the end justifies his means. We were not elected to run Nigeria for one or two years. We were elected to run Nigeria for four years and before we get to an appreciable length of time, I am confident that we would begin to see very obvious changes.”