- Join hands with FCT Minister to restore Abuja master plan, Nwuche begs Nigerians
Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike has described a recent report that 100 people were killed in one of the FCT area councils in Abuja as false and exaggeration.
This is following the persistence of rising cases of ‘One chance’ robbery, and kidnapping, in Abuja.
This came as a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche called on Nigerians to rally behind Wike, in his drive to restore the Abuja master plan and instill discipline in urban development.
Speaking in Abuja, during his recent live broadcast with selected reporters, he vowed to shut down illegal motor parks.
While insisting that the issue of insecurity was not peculiar to FCT, he faulted the report that over 100 people were killed in Abuja. “That is not a tenable report,” Wike said.
“When you say 100 people, who are these 100 people that were killed? Some people like to exaggerate. I’m not saying that one or two persons were not killed. To say that 100 people were killed, that is not possible. We have to publish the information with facts and figures. You know one of the priorities of Tinubu’s administration is the security and protection of lives and property.
“No government can be serious if you cannot protect lives and property. And that is why for us, we have to key in and reduce the level of insecurity in FCT”.
Fear has continued to grip many residents over the activities of criminals who disguise themselves as commercial vehicle operators to attack and rob unsuspecting victims.
There have been reported cases of ‘one-chance’ robbery and kidnapping in Abuja for weeks.
A joint task force on cross-border crimes was set up last week to tackle the security menace called ‘one-chance’ robbery, with the involvement of all security operatives in the FCT.
The task force was constituted after a security meeting chaired by the Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike.
The minister blamed the rising crime in the capital city on illegal motor parks and uncompleted buildings used as dens by criminals.
He said: “We’re getting a lot of reports about kidnappings here, about one-chance there.
“In most cases, we don’t even let the public know what has been done. I can tell you the security agencies have done quite a lot. If not, by now, the FCT would have been a different thing.
“One of the areas we identified is that the FCT is at the centre – we have Niger State, we have Kogi State, we have Nasarawa State, we have Kaduna State. And if you check these four states, these four states are states that (experience) from time to time, banditry, kidnapping.
Join hands with Wike to restore Abuja master plan, Nwuche begs Nigerians
Nwuche, in a statement on Saturday in Abuja said: “Those who have lived in Abuja since the return of the democratic dispensation in 1999 can attest to the deterioration of the capital city by illegal structures taking over public spaces, green areas illegally allocated by unscrupulous officials to cronies, areas for public facilities like fire services/ Police stations were also allocated to individuals. How can areas in a capital city not have available spaces for the construction of fire service and Police Stations etc?
“This was especially under the immediate past minister under whose watch parts of Abuja became like slums, the streets were dirty and unkempt, a clear reason why unqualified persons should never be appointed to public offices on the basis of nepotism and tribalism,” the statement said.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for making the right decision in picking Wike “who is a known achiever and who performed exceptionally as the immediate past governor of Rivers State and brought development, and infrastructure to all local governments and cities in the state.”
He described Wike as a detribalised and nationalistic Nigerian, who would treat all Nigerians equally.
“The appointment has restored the faith of many Nigerians in our unity, equality as Nigerians, and a departure from the nepotism of the past where certain portfolios were reserved for only a part of the country,” he said.
He wondered where those condemning the minister were during the past administration “where the ministers of FCT did practically nothing but occupy space and allow the capital city to fall apart.”
He added: “No country that desires development should listen to archaic and unexposed persons, be they clerics, former government officials, etc, who prefer when only those from their tribe and religion hold sensitive offices including the defence and security portfolios in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. “When one walks into a Nigerian airport, police stations, immigration offices, etc one should see a reflection of our diversity and all tribes fairly represented. Not the one where at immigration services, police, customs, etc, you see a preponderance of one tribe and one religion. These are the issues that have held Nigeria down.’
He called on people of goodwill to speak up and not allow retrogressive drive down their parochial and divisive agenda.
“We all know the antics of these critics who only see things good when their tribe is appointed into positions, even when those people are destroying our country on account of their incompetence, bigotry, and putting a knife to our national unity they keep quiet.”
He called on President Tinubu to consolidate his development strides by appointing more competent nationalists into positions of authority and removing anyone found to be a tribal or religious bigot, in order to set Nigeria firmly on the path of rapid socio-economic development and for her to join the committee of developed nations.
He urged Wike not to be distracted by “these critics as Nigerians are much wiser after suffering under incompetent leadership for many years, and understand the antics of these critics.”
He urged President Tinubu to ignore such people and continue on the part of giving every Nigerian a sense of belonging irrespective of their tribe and religion.
