Council Of State Wants Insurgency To End December

The Council of State yesterday rose from an extraordinary meeting with a resolve that security forces must go the extra mile to ensure that the reign of terror in the country being perpetrated by the Boko Haram comes to an end before December this year.

At the emergency meeting convened by President Goodluck, the council of state also resolved to put measures in place to begin the process of abolishing indigeneship and encourage the recognition of all Nigerians based on where they reside.

Akwa Ibom State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio gave the hint, while briefing journalists alongside his Niger and Enugu counterparts: Governors Muazu Babangida Aliyu and Sullivan Chime as well as the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Dasuki Sambo.

This came just as the NSA said the federal government was helpless on the use of the abducted Chibok girls by the Boko Haram sect as female bombers because they were under the control of the insurgents and not government.

What really can anybody do? The Chibok girls who are in captivity are not under government control. The only thing we do is try and address those who are outside who will have contact with them. If they are released today, we have a programme we put them through to make sure that if there is any indoctrination, we try at least to reduce the intensity if we dont release it completely. That is all we can do before they go back into normal life, Dasuki said.

Niger State Governor, Aliyu who hinted of council of state resolve to ensure that the terror activities of Boko Haram ended before December said, So, all the things came to the fore at the meeting and subsequently, each of us made it a deliberate resolution to all bi-partisan or non-partisan to support the President to make sure that we get rid of this insurgency before December.

On the issue of abolishing indigeneship in the country, Akpabio said it was one of the most important issues discussed at the meeting, adding that it bordered on how Nigerians can actually be Nigerians in their country and feel free to live and do their business without molestation.

He said the council set up a committee composed of six governors, one from each of the geo-political zones of the country to work on modalities on how to abolish indigeneship and address the issue of non-indigene registration by some states. The committee which included the governors of Niger, Sokoto, Enugu, Gombe, Akwa Ibom and Ondo states was expected to submit its report within two weeks.

Akpabio said, So the issue of indigeneship, the issue of deportation or return of Nigerians from any part of the country to their various states were discussed. Council viewed the report seriously that some citizens were being deported. Deport should be from one country to the other, but where you have a Nigerian who is being returned to his state of origin to other states then you know there is a problem.

We felt that that was capable of disrupting the unity of the country, making Nigerians to become apprehensive and unsafe. Also council frowned at the idea of even registering Nigerians in various parts of the country and felt this must be brought to an end immediately. And so we looked at all these issues and the role every leader should play from the local government level to the federal level.

The role each one of us should play to ensure that we solidify the unity of this country. We also looked at this discriminatory practices across board from all parts of the country, north, south, west and the east and we felt all those issues must be brought to the front burner, solutions proffered to ensure that Nigerians are united, live freely and do their businesses without hinderance.

On the committee, he said, Council in the course of conclusion decided to set up a committee to further discuss with Nigerians and identify discriminatory practices in all states of the federation and in all the local government areas and then this committee should submit report to council in the next two months, in order for us to know what steps to take to stop such practices.

Whether we need to go to the National Assembly, then we will go to National Assembly or whether we need to do so through policies at federal, state or local government levels just to make sure that the country is totally united and all those discriminatory practices are brought to an end so that Nigerians can truly feel free and safe to work in any part of the country without hinderance.

On his part, Governor Aliyu said: In some states, there are some discriminatory school fees paid. If you are not a so-called indigene, you pay higher than the indigenes. In fact the very concept of indigeneship came to the fore that whether in Nigeria we should be concerned with so-called indigeneship or residency.