ABEOKUTA — FORMER Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, yesterday, called for a concerted effort to put an end to the myriads of problems facing Nigeria, saying the insecurity challenges in the country were beyond President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC.
This came on a day Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State directed council chairmen across the state to set up local vigilantes, in a bid to tackle insecurity in the state.
Saraki, who spoke with journalists in Abeokuta, Ogun State, after a closed-door meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, urged President Buhari to involve opposition parties, international friends, and other stakeholders in finding a lasting solution to the insecurity and other challenges confronting the country.
He advised Buhari to tackle insecurity with all the seriousness it deserves, saying “these are issues that cross party lines and what is required now is for the Federal Government to provide leadership in bringing all stakeholders together. Let us discuss and see how we can address some of these issues.”
He said: “In fighting insecurity, the Federal Government should involve everybody. I think that when we talk about kidnapping when we talk about the sense of belonging, these are issues that cut across party lines, and what is required now is for the government to provide leadership in bringing all stakeholders together. Let us discuss and see how we can address some of these issues.
“We are very hopeful for the future of this country, we are very hopeful that everybody will have a sense of belonging. I think it is important that we all must be able to be at the table and discuss.
“My advice to government is that this problem is a huge problem that cannot be left to just the government and the ruling party. I think this is the time the opposition, the ruling party, our international friends, the private sector, and all of us must come together on the round table because the challenges before us are enormous and we need to address them.”
On his meeting with Obasanjo, Saraki said: “We told him (Obasanjo) what we are trying to do, to reposition the party, we told him how important that is, the project Nigeria and he told us his commitment to Nigeria, promising that he will never shirk away from that responsibility to have a better Nigeria.”