Elder statesman and prominent leader of the South-South region, Chief Edwin Clark, says insecurity has made nonsense of 21 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria.
The Ijaw leader described as “shocking” the number of Nigerians being killed by bandits, terrorists, and other criminals across the nation.
The nonagenarian lamented that more Nigerians were being killed now than during the three-year-long Civil War.
Clark also accused the Federal Government of lying about being on top of the security situation especially in the North.
He stated this in an interview published by Sunday Sun.
Reacting to multiple assurances from the Federal Government of being on top of security, Clark said, “They are not. The government is not on top of security. Everybody says that security has degenerated each passing day.”
The former Federal Commissioner for Information under the Yakubu Gowon regime added, “There are more people being killed than when we were in the civil war. A lot of people are being killed in the Northwest, everywhere in the country, in the Northeast and everywhere, nowhere is safe.
“When you talk about the number of people that are being kidnapped in the country, it is simply shocking.
“So, there is no security in the country and that is why the people are asking for the Service Chiefs to be changed, to be retired. People who have stayed for five years and they have not produced any good result, even though Mr President has the discretion to retain them and so on, but Mr President is not president for himself, he is president of Nigeria, and his sacred duty is to protect the life and property of the citizens. He took an oath to protect the security and welfare of the people, that is not being done.
“Look at the herdsmen killing people everywhere, have they arrested any one of them any day? Has any AK47 been taken from any herdsman? Tell me. Why should they allow herdsmen from other countries to go to everywhere and you are registering them as citizens of Nigeria? What type of country do we belong to?”