Kano blasts: A further proof of FG’s cluelessness – ACN

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said that Friday’s deadly attacks in Kano have again highlighted the Federal Government’s embarrassing cluelessness on how to tackle the Boko Haram crisis, even as the group becomes more brazen and the crisis deepens.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also said it is an irony that the Federal Government that has deployed armed troops against unarmed citizens in Lagos could not checkmate those who are posing a real threat to national security, leaving them to run amok and mow down security agents and ordinary citizens, including a journalist who was shot in the line of duty.

It warned that the longer the government dithers in seeking a creative solution to the crisis, the more emboldened Boko Haram will become, and the more the likelihood that the crisis will push Nigeria to the precipice.

The party said: “When the government decided to engage in the use of brute force, as it is wont to do when confronted with situations that demand imaginative solutions, we warned that it would be counter-productive. When the government decided to impose a state of emergency in some states, we warned that, imperative as that might seem at the time, it would only push the sect to extend its attacks to areas not covered by the measure, hence the need to seek a lasting solution.

“Unfortunately, those warnings have proved to be prescient, and the government has continued to shy away from seeking a creative solution, which we believe is to start off by calling a national security summit to be attended by stakeholders, who will help proffer solutions to the crisis. We will also like to reiterate our call for some form of engagement, instead of relying solely on the use of brute force, which will not work.”

The party expressed shock and sadness at the scale of the latest attacks and the number of innocent people who were sent to their early graves, and condoled with the families of the victims.

ACN warned that if the attacks are allowed to continue, the government will lose its raison d’etre, which is to ensure the security and well-being of the citizenry, not to seek to inflict more hardship on them at a time of great insecurity to lives and property.