The president of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has declared as enemies of the people, those responsible for the recent attacks at some Police formations and Correctional facilities in Imo State.
Lawan said that the aim of the attackers was probably to cause a distraction for the Imo state government or and the federal government.
The Senate President said this on Friday in Owerri where he commissioned a road project completed by the administration of Governor Hope Uzodimma.
The road named after a former senate president, late Senator Evans Enwerem, is one of the many infrastructural projects, inaugurated to mark the one year in office, of Governor Uzodimma.
Lawan charged the people to take the ownership of the projects, utilize them well and protect them as their projects.
“We have been experiencing insecurity recently especially in Imo State – the jailbreak, burning of Police headquarters, and so on and so forth. These may be attempts by the enemies of the people, to distract this administration or indeed the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“When a government program or project is vandalized, when a government institution is vandalized and burnt, those doing so are enemies of the people, because when you incarcerate someone in prison and normally the due process would have been followed. This becomes a public interest and therefore for anyone, whosoever, to go and release prisoners, or burnt down the Correctional center otherwise known as a prison, such a person is the no.1 enemy of the people”.
“Our security agencies need more resources to ensure that we are all protected and life is secured, as well as our property. We will continue to support our security agencies in partnership with the Executive arm of government”.
“This is so important because this kind of attitude, this kind of insurrection, can lead to insurgency that we have witnessed that in the Northeast”.
“Thank God by 2015, the insecurity and insurgency in the Northeast had started to reduce because of the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria”.
“We have unfortunately discovered that, we have other security challenges from banditry to militancy,” Lawan said.
The Senate President said that the appointment of the new service chiefs and the acting Inspector General of Police was to inject fresh ideas in a bid to finally overcome the security challenges.
“It is therefore important that you should continue to support the administration of Senator Hope Uzodimma in Imo State because this is your administration”.
“There is no ‘them and us.’ It is the government of the people by the people and for the people. So this is your government. Never allow anyone to confuse you or convince you that this is Hope Uzodimma’s government”.
“Senator Hope Uzodimma, your governor, did not become governor until you have voted for him and we are proud of him and his achievements”.
“Both the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership and the Imo State under the leadership of Senator Hope Uzodimma receive far less than the previous administrations, yet they’ve done far more than the previous administrations,” Lawan said.
The senate president said that the achievements recorded despite the decline in revenues, were the result of prudence and discipline.
Lawan also used the opportunity to justify the good working relationship between the national assembly and the executive.
“We do so consciously. We do so purposely. We do so patriotically because we believe that both arms of government are voted in to serve the people and where we have to disagree with the Executive arm of government, we will do so”.
“We have done so before and if it becomes necessary to do so, we will do it again. But where we have no cause to differ, where we have no cause to say no, we will not differ and we will not say no,” Lawan said.
The senate president, was accompanied on the trip by senators Jibrin Barau, Biobarakuma Degi, Halliru Jika, Sani Musa, and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.
Edited by : Tunde Orebiyi
