Girls abduction, a slap on nation's security

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Schoolgirls’ abduction, slap on nation’s security –OPC

Gani Adams

The Oodua People’s Congress has described the continued seizure of the over 200 Nigerian girls abducted on April 14 by the Boko Haram insurgents in Chibok, Borno State, as a slap on the nation’s security.

OPC National Coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams, said the development indicated that the country was not safe for residents.

He said Nigerians in the Diaspora would not want to visit the country because of the security challenges, especially killing of innocent people and destruction of their property.

In a telephone interview with our correspondent during the week, Adams said the insecurity was a potent factor that could prevent investors from bringing their resources into the country.

He, however, condemned the recent attacks on Nigerians in Kano and Plateau states where scores were killed by the Boko Haram terrorists.

Adams urged the Federal Government to look beyond the military in the fight against the Boko Haram menace by engaging relevant stakeholders.

He hailed members of the vigilance groups that recently prevented attack on the people in some communities in Adamawa State.

Adams said, “Majority of the Boko Haram members are not Nigerians; they infiltrated Nigeria through illegal routes. Report claims that there are 1, 400 illegal routes in the country. That is why we members of the National Security Committee suggested that there must be community police different from the regular police.

“We suggested that the community police must be well equipped to arrest and prosecute suspected criminals. We also suggested that border security must be emphasised to check the persistent infiltration of the country.”

Adams urged the Federal Government to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls still held by the Boko Haram insurgents.

He, however, denied involvement of OPC members in the lynching of suspected kidnappers in Lagos State.

Adams said OPC, which he described as a peace-loving organisation, did not participate in all the cases of jungle justice recorded in the state.

Reacting to insinuation in some quarters that members of the group have been responsible for the lynching, Adams, who claimed that jungle justice had been in existence centuries before OPC was formed, denied that his members were involved in the dastard acts.