Abubakar: Military Expected More from Civilian Leadership

*Says lack of equity, justice, fairness responsible for secessionist agitations

Laleye Dipo in Minna

A former military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, yesterday, expressed concern over the state of the nation and said the military expected more from the civilian leadership, when it handed over power and returned the nation to civil rule in 1999.

He also said the clamour for secession was being driven by lack of equity, justice and fairplay in the distribution of the nation’s resources and appointments.
Abubakar, who stated this when he fielded questions from newsmen in Minna, Niger State,declared that, “When the military handed over, it (Military) expected a more united country,where the concern of our leaders would be the welfare of their people and progress of the nation.

“We expected that there should be no bitterness in politics but unfortunately, we find out that now, for one reason or the other, there are a lot of agitations from the states for one thing or the other.
“The perception of being excluded from the sphere of things has brought an idea that the best thing to do is to stay away from where you are not wanted. Now, the brains behind these calls for secession have the feelings, one way or the other, that they are being excluded from the scheme of things. Rightly or wrongly, this is what they feel and they think the best thing to do is to opt out,” he said.

He, however, suggested that, “The only way to stop this secession bid is to ensure that there must be equity and justice and there must be an effort to carry everybody along in the governance, development, provision of infrastructure and again in appointment of people to fill existing vacancies, meaning that there must be equal representation. I think if this is done, we will kill this agitations,” Abubakar said.

The retired general noted that, there had been unity in the country with Nigerians living in peace with each other, stressing that there had also been a lot of interactions, intermarriages between Nigerians “until the incoming of the incessant banditry and kidnappings.

“It is true that within a couple of years, the peace within the country had been destabilised,first with the advent of Boko Haram and later on with all these miscreants, who are staging atrocities in the country by kidnapping, demanding for ransom, destroying government properties and invading and destroying farmers farms.

“Certainly, these are issues of concern but gladly, despite these shortcomings, the overstretchness of the security forces as much as possible, they are doing the best they can under the circumstances.”

The former Head of state said the country could do better in the area of security “by strengthening our Security Forces by way of recruitment and equipping them adequately so that they could face the challenges of securing the lives and properties of the country.”

He also admonished the citizens to as much as possible work hand-in-hand with the Security Agencies by giving them intelligence on where and how these miscreants are operating,because “they live among us; we know where they are and so, let us expose and give information adequately to the security forces so that they can go after these bandits and other terrorists bedevilling the country.”

On the nation’s huge local and international debts, Abubakar said the volume of the “rising debts are cause for concern” but pointed out, however, that “The man who is wearing the shoes knows where it is pinching most.
“Certainly, the rising debt are cause for concern but let us pray that whatever loan acquired are channelled towards the real purpose they are meant for.”