SDP lauds FG over efforts to tackle insecurity

• …commends EFCC chairman for transparency, professionalism

The national chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alh Shehu Musa Gabam, on Sunday, April 28, commended the efforts of the federal government in addressing insecurity nationwide.

Gabam spoke in Abuja while answering questions from reporters on the state of the Nation.

He pointed out that the efforts of the government have yielded significant improvements and called for the support of Nigerians to achieve more for the betterment of the citizens

He also called on the government to ensure it keeps improving as the non-statement of the actors behind such nefarious activities is also improving itself.

He also commended the government for the measures it was taking to ensure the stability of the naira and improve the economy, saying that the nation would rise again with the political will to maintain the current efforts aimed at fixing the nation for the betterment of the Citizens

He said: “I know as a matter of fact that the level of crime and criminality, kidnapping, the maiming and barbarism have drastically reduced. Most of the gang leaders that have been responsible for kidnapping people have been eliminated or arrested or under prosecution.

“This is a kudos to the Federal government because in the absence of securing the environment, you cannot have a political environment and you cannot have an investment-friendly environment. The confidence needs to be restored.

“People who are bringing in resources need to be assured that their lives would be secured, their investment would be secured. So the security level in the country is tremendously improving.

“You can drive from here, Abuja to Kaduna anytime now even in the night. Even in the south East, the sit-at-home has reduced drastically. So the government has put a lot of attention, a lot of priority in securing the territorial integrity of the country.

“So I give them kudos in terms of security and in terms of improving the security architecture of the country. But they should do much more because the sophistication of the non-statement actors challenging the states is also improving.

“So the dynamics and the approach of the government and the security agencies must also improve to deal with the unanticipated areas of behaviour to undermine the government that is in place. But so far in the area of security, the government is doing tremendously well.

“In the currency, we are seeing the fluctuations even though in the last few days it has shot up again but we hope that they would look at the entire mayhem surrounding the forex and those responsible for the fluctuations and sabotaging the economy and deal with it aggressively.”

This came just as the SDP national chairman lauded the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede, for his efforts in addressing the problem of corruption threatening the foundation of the country in all spheres of the economy.

He urged Nigerians to be fair to the new chairman of the EFCC and support him in his efforts to deal with corruption in the country.

Gabam counselled the EFCC boss to be focused and not be deterred from sanitizing the system.

He noted: “Listening to the current chairman of the EFCC, his approach, I think Nigerians should be fair to him. They should give him credit for the way and manner he is dealing with the issue.

“First he mentioned that the institution needs to be sanitized because individuals use institutions to siphon public funds. Now if you do not strengthen the institution, if you do not block the leakages, there’s no way you can be able to strengthen the institution and stop individuals from using our public institutions to siphon resources of the country for personal interest.

“I believe that approach he is doing particularly in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is professional, well-articulated. And he has said he is not dealing with individuals. He is dealing with institutions and that investigation would take time because it has to do with the root causes and the easiest way people can siphon public funds which is great to me.

“So it is not fair for people to vilify him simply because he has granted a press conference and he is giving a situation report and the approach he is taking. Normally investigations professionally all over the world take a very long time.

“So for me, he has expressed himself. He should be given the opportunity. He is approaching it professionally. The government should strengthen and encourage him to do the needful.

“He should remain focused, decisive and patriotic in dealing with every issue. He has a more civilised approach as far as I am concerned. In encouraging him to continue doing whatever he is doing. Whatever he does people are going to criticize him so let him remain focused and achieve the goal.”