FORMER President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday paid a condolence visit to the leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti over the death of his daughter, Mrs Funke Olakunrin.
Olakunrin was reportedly killed along Ore-Shagamu Expressway by some hoodlums suspected to be Fulani herdsmen last Friday.
Speaking with journalists, Jonathan described the incident as a painful occurrence to the whole country. He also described the murder of Olakunrin as an act of terrorism. He called on the federal and state governments to be more proactive on the issue of insecurity in the country.
He said, “Every generation of human being face problems and that generation must find ways of solving that problem. Every government faces some unique problems. Insecurity has been with us immediately after the civil war. That was the first time we experienced armed robbery in Lagos. From armed robbery, it graduated to kidnapping.
“The first major kidnapping was described as commercial kidnapping because some money exchanged hands. This happened in 2006 when I was governor of Bayelsa State. From commercial kidnapping, it moved to terrorism in the north and now some kind of terrorist attacks are all over the country when people will just come out of the road and spray bullets on innocent people. That is a terrorist attack. You have no reason to attack somebody you don’t even know, that is terrorism.”
While calling on the Federal Government to implement the report of the 2014 confab, Jonathan said some of the recommendations in the report dealt with the issue of security and the government should apply the recommendations.
The former President stated, “In 2014 when I was president, we had a national conference where a number of things were discussed. The issues of security; state and regional police were discussed.
“I always believe that if the government looks into that report; because it was not written by me, so we should not play politics with national issues. If we look into that report, there are recommendations.
“A lot of things were discussed during the national conference organized during my time as president. The issue of security, state and community policing were discussed. I always believe that the government should look at that report, it was not written by me.
“We should not play politics with a serious national issue. If we look at that report, there are recommendations that bother on security and if there is an area that needs to be expanded because I believe everyday new idea comes, it should be updated.
“There is nothing wrong holding a specific meeting to look at the issue of security. I believe the federal and state governments need to have a new approach, deploy technology and have more money to protect our people.”
He also charged the security operatives in the country to deploy technology to fight insecurity, saying there was a need for the Federal Government to set up a special unit that would specifically tackle insecurity in the country.
“I was there as a President for some time, security challenges were there with me, I also inherited some. But it is getting worse every day. And we cannot continue to use the same old method,” he charged. – Punch
