BY DAMOLA EMMANUEL
Strong indications emerged, Wednesday, that President Muhammadu Buhari may have succumbed to public opinion and agreed to review Nigeria’s security architecture.
This fact emerged after the President held a closed door meeting with Bukola Saraki, President of the Senate, and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker, House of Representatives, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Neither men revealed details of the meeting held before the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting. But they said it was all about the state of security in the country, with particular emphasis on the killings in Plateau State.
They said President Buhari briefed them on the situation in Plateau and the steps the government had taken to normalise the situation.
“These are very sober moments for most of us,” Dogara told Channels Television, in a report The Crest monitored in Abuja. “…You go to the North East, you can see the level of devastation caused by Boko Haram. Everything, from schools to hospitals to government institutions, has been pulled down. And we don’t want a replication of this all over the country.
“And the President has taken enough steps…These are security issues. They are not matters that you can discuss. But he’s told us what he’s doing and the due organisation he plans to put in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen (again). So, we’ll all continue to work together…. Nobody is happy with this. He is not. Neither of us is. And we’ll ensure that we all come together collectively to ensure that we restore sanity.”
Meanwhile, the Northern Senatorial District of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, also on Wednesday in Jos, organised a protest march to decry the unending killings in Plateau State, especially last Saturday’s attacks in Barkin Ladi, Berom and Jos South Local Government Areas respectively, where over 100 people reportedly lost their lives.
Hundreds of plaque carrying demonstrators marched from old airport to Government House, requesting to register their grievance with Governor Simon Lalung, who refused to see them.
Indeed, by the time the protesters, who all clad in black, got to the Government House, the gate had been barricaded.
But they were not deterred by that as they forced their way in, smashing glass windows and some other things in the process.
“All we have come to say is that Governor Lalung should be Governor of all in Plateau state,” a protester said.
Another said they had come to plead with the governor to take definitive action to help them recover their land reportedly usurped by cattle herders.
“They have taken our land and nobody is saying anything, ” the female protester said.
The distraught Commissioner for Information, Yakubu Datti, expressed displeasure at the damage caused to government property by the protesters.
Datti admitted that people had the right to protest in a democracy. “But when people break barricade and vandalise public property, there is more to it,” he said.
Also on Wednesday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo paid a condolence visit to Governor Lalung and the people of Plateau State over Saturday’s bloodshed.
After condoling with the government and people of the state, the former President told his host that “We should find out what happened and deal with it. We must find the root cause and deal with it.”
Thanking Obasanjo for the visit, Lalung assured his guest that “We are doing our best in the circumstance. We have learnt our lessons.”
