Afenifere urges govt to halt Nigeria’s alleged slide to anarchy

YORUBA socio-cultural group, Afenifere has called on the Federal Government to urgently halt what it described as the gradual slide of the country to anarchy and tackle the national question confronting Nigeria.

The group demand is coming on the heels of the recent clash between members of the Shiite Islamic group and the Nigerian army in Zaria, and the protest by the Pro-Biafra movement.

It asked the government to probe the incidents with a view to serving justice and ensuring that peace returns to the nation.

The group also called on the government to implement the recommendations and resolutions made at the 2014 National Conference where credible and lasting solutions were proffered to the various problems confronting the nation.

In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin yesterday, Afenifere warned that any country that can turn a blind eye to such unwarranted killings of its citizens as witnessed in Zaria and Onitsha, “has lost its humanity.”

It called on the Federal Government to lower tension in the country by engaging the different theatres of agitation across the country with a view to addressing holistically the national question that is it at the heart of the rising tension in the country.

According to Afenifere, “We are for peaceful resolution of this crisis, with the understanding of the dynamics of social movement which makes violent change inevitable when the peaceful approach is jettisoned.

“We are fully persuaded that the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference provide a basis to start addressing the ethno-religious issues that are threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria.

“The ominous cloud hanging over the country dictates the need to rise beyond the pettiness of focusing on WHO convoked the conference but rather to take a critical look at the issues that were discussed.”

Afenifere argued that it would be naive to think that brute force can take the place of reconstruction as countries that were superior to Nigeria in military might have in recent years disappeared from the world map because they failed to engage the crisis of nationhood in a constructive manner.

“The moment requires a painstaking approach of reconstructive surgery and not unconscionable bulldozing which can only lead to disintegration and not integration. A word is enough for the wise!”

It however, expressed deep worry by the spate of excessive aggressions that have led to the loss of several lives in the hands of the military in its “Rule of Engagement” against agitators in different parts of the country in the last three weeks.