By Victor Ogunje
The Senator representing Ekiti Central senatorial district in the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, has charged the federal government to be patriotic enough to deal with those fanning the ember of insecurity in the country.
Bamidele said the time has come for Nigerians to allow patriotic spirit to guide them in arresting and prosecuting those suspected to be killers, land invaders, kidnappers, rapists and those associated with the farmers-herdsmen crises across the country. The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain stated this in the Senate last Tuesday while articulating his views on a motion he sponsored and entitled: ‘General Insecurity in Nigeria and Matters Arising’.
Bamidele, in a statement made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, warned that though he was against the culture of ethnic profiling in the farmers-herders’ clashes that are quaking the country’s foundation, but insisted that this shouldn’t dissuade the patriots from speaking the truth about the matter.
The party chieftain said: “The insecurity in the country is no longer about the Fulanis and Ibos or Yoruba and Kanuris or about Northeast or Southwest, but about Nigeria.
“This is the time that the patriotic spirit that lives in all of us must guide us. Section 43 of the 1999 Constitution grants all of us the rights to own property anywhere in the country. But this is different from ownership of lands.
“Land Use Act clearly spelt out three ways lands can be acquired-by government, corporate body or individual. Though, I have the right to own property anywhere in the country, I have no right to trespass on the land belonging to any other person.
“I am happy that the government at all levels and individuals are suggesting ways to end farmers-herdsmen clashes, but it is not the right of anyone to trespass on the land of another person.
“The war against insecurity must be taken to every section of this country, and our governors must be allowed to take charge of the security in their localities.
“Governor of Enugu State in the Southeast region or any governor in any zone must be allowed to take charge of their security.
“I don’t want to care wherever they came from; criminals trespassing on people’s lands must be punished. They have to be cautioned, because there is no patriotic spirit in the people constituting security threat to other citizens.
“Let no one be afraid of being called a tribalist, this is the time to speak out the truth in the interest of Nigeria.”
