Life of the poor cheaper than peanuts and Gala – Sani
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Monday raised the alarm over the escalating killings and insecurity in the country.
Ekweremadu warned that more lives would be lost unless the country’s security architecture was reorganised.
This is contained in a statement by Ekweremadu’s media aide, Uche Anichukwu, on the recent killings in Plateau State, which had left scores dead.
It said that Ekweremadu decried the reluctance of the nation’s leaders to tinker with the nation’s security structure, despite glaring lapses.
It said that the Senator spoke after decorating his newly promoted security aides, Mr. Uchenna Igwebuike and Edward Utuh, with their new ranks of Superintendent of Police (SP) and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), respectively.
It said that Ekweremadu commended the Nigeria Police for the recent promotion exercise, noting that such would motivate the personnel to give their best.
On the killings in Jos, it quoted Ekweremadu to have said: “It is really unfortunate because our country is a nation where the leaders have refused to learn from the mistakes and missteps of the past.
“For many years now, some of us have been consistent about the need to descentralise our security architecture; and so long as we are not doing that, we are going to get exactly the same result.
“It pains me that innocent people, who voted us into power to protect their lives and property are losing their lives and their property because we have refused to take the correct steps.
“The sad news is not only that many people have died, but also that more people will die unless we take the right steps of putting the right security architecture in place.
“There is no way you will have a federation like Nigeria as big as it is, with all the diversities, and continue to operate a centralised policing and expect it to work. It will never work and it is a major problem.
“So, it is sad that this is happening. But, as I said, the real tragedy is that this Plateau incident is not going to be last because we refuse to be corrected”.
It said that Ekweremadu reasoned that the Government of Plateau State would be in the best position to protect the citizens if it had its own police outfit.
“I want to call on the Federal Government and the leaders of this country again for us to, for once, decide to protect the lives and property of those we are leading because that is the primary purpose of government.
“I appeal to the Federal Government to have a rethink on the issue of restructuring, especially the ones relevant to the security of lives and property.
“The only way to do that is for all of us to sit down and agree to, within a space of the next two or three months, amend the constitution to enable the component units of this country to have their own security architecture, namely the police.
“If the people of Plateau are empowered under the constitution to have their police, then you can place the blame squarely on the governor because he will have the responsibility to recruit sufficient police personnel to protect the people.
“Right now, the responsibility is that of the Federal Government. There is little or nothing the governor can do about it.
“I sympathize with the people of Plateau State, especially the communities, which lost their loved ones. However, I will continue to sound even like a broken record until the correct thing is done,” Ekweremadu said.
The Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, on his own said that the recent mass Killings in Plateau State stands unreservedly condemned.
Sani noted that “it is tragic and most unfortunate that people are being killed every day in Nigeria while the interest and the attention of the ruling political establishment is more in power and politics of the 2019 elections.”
The vocal senator lamented that while the governors danced and sang at Eagle Squaire, “the lives of the governed are wasted and the blood of the governed was soaking the territory they administer.”
He said added, “Enough blood has been spilled in Nigeria to touch the conscience of people in power, if at all humanity matters.
“In Nigeria today life of the poor is cheaper than peanuts and gala. We have become a nation in perpetual mourning and funeral service.
“Until the ruling political elites raise the value of the life of the underprivileged to equal that of the powerful and the privileged, the systemic wastage of the lives of the poor will remain unabated.
“The nation has lost its sense of outrage and we are tragically spreading red carpets and beating the drums of praises to leaders who woefully failed in their responsibilities.
“My deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. May their souls Rest In Peace.”
