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Monday, December 26, 2011

Professor Pat Utomi



Explosions call for national emergency’

Some prominent Nigerians yesterday said the Christmas Day bomb attacks in parts of the country called for a national emergency.

They said the loss of innocent Nigerians through the activities of the Boko Haram sect was threatening the sovereignty of Nigeria.

Former Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party in the April elections, Professor Pat Utomi, said the attacks had stretched the nation’s patience.

“The Christmas Day bomb blast is a great tragedy coming on a day that represents peace on earth as Christians celebrate the birth of Christ.

“This latest development calls for a national emergency and the need for a summit for Nigerians to decide where the nation is going,’’ Utomi said.

He said where the nation was heading could no longer be left in the hands of security officials alone.

“It is obvious that these officials seem not to understand what is going on and how to handle it. Nigerian people must sit to discuss the way forward and ignoring this would spell greater disaster for the nation.”

Chief Maxi Okwu, the Coordinator of the Patriotic Alliance of Nigeria, an association of opposition political parties, said: “Government security agencies across the nation seem to be losing the war on terrorism.

“Government must change its tactics by doing more of counter-terrorism, intelligence gathering and infiltration,’’ Okwu said.

He said there was immediate need for Nigerians to sit down and talk before the carnage ripping across the country became impossible to handle.

“Nigeria must go back to the original agreement on federalism which has been lost. The Federal Government must coordinate and finetune the basic agreement,” he said.

Dr Federick Faseun, the founder of Oodua People’s Congress, described the attacks as sad and unfortunate.

Faseun said enough attention has not been paid to terrorism in Nigeria.

He decried the continued loss of lives in Nigeria through terrorist activities, insisting that the fastest way out of the situation was a national summit.

“No doubt Nigeria is in a sad situation and the Federal Government must tackle the situation as a national emergency,” he said.

The President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima, also condemned the bomb blast.

Yerima told NAN that there was hope in Nigeria if government could listen to reason and facilitate the convocation of a sovereign national conference.

He said the Christmas Day bomb attacks might have been masterminded by those who wanted to instigate a religious crisis in Nigeria.

The AYCF president said the masterminds of the attacks would face the wrath of Allah even if they were not caught because no one had the right to take life, which only God gives.

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