The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) says the deepening security crisis in Nigeria is exceedingly troubling and requires conscious and deliberate intervention from government.
To this end, the association implored President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on the insecurity menace that pervades the nation.
The NBA president, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at a news briefing on the state of the nation.
“It is high time the federal government declares a state of emergency in the area of security, and I urge Mr President not to waste time and spare no effort in this regard,” he said.
According to Mr Maikyau, Nigerians require a well-thought-out, informed, all-inclusive and purposeful intervention, with as much necessary information made available to the public.
He voiced the NBA concerns over increasing lost of confidence among Nigerians in the ability of the Federal Government to tackle the security criais in the country.
“All forms of criminal activities across the nation, howsoever described, by criminal elements by whatever name called, are completely inexcusable and unacceptable.
“The entire country is under siege by terrorists, bandits and criminal gangs. It is no longer easily determinable, if not impossible, which square kilometre of the Nigerian territory is under the authority, not control, of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“A situation where criminality dots all over the space known as the Nigeria territory, in a manner that diminishes the presence of law enforcement agencies, directly challenges the sovereignty of Nigeria.
“This is particularly so when we hear that the said bandits and terrorists are foreign nationals.
“If the activities of foreign nationals have been responsible for this high level of insecurity in our nation when the country is not at war, these criminal elements go on to boldly record and send out videos on social media platforms.
“They do this boasting about their strongholds with the territory of the Nigerian state and suffer no consequence for so doing, then there is more to it than meets the eye, and Nigerians need to be better informed of the nature of the insecurity they are dealing with.”
He implored the President to show a demonstrable commitment to prioritise the security of lives and property in the country.
Mr Maikyau said this should be done in addition to ensuring the right investments in security in line with global trends without compromising Nigeria’s sovereignty.
He decried a situation where insecurity has left many Nigerians homeless and businesses destroyed.
He said it was pertinent for the government to adopt a holistic approach to the issue of security while not overlooking the peculiarities of each region and evolve measures to deal with them accordingly.
”In this wise, the government must neither be scared nor ashamed to make the right investments in security, in line with global trends, without compromising our sovereignty.”
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