Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and former governor of Akwa Ibom, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has attributed the current state of insecurity in the country as part of plot to derail the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
But the minister assured that the government can not be derailed.
Speaking with newsmen Thursday in Abuja, at the national secretariat of APC, during a surprise visit to the National Secretary of APC Caretaker Committee, Sen. James Akpanudoedehe, the minister said the only peaceful region for now is Niger Delta region.
When asked to comment on current spate of insecurity in the country, the former governor said: “The issues of insecurity for me has already assumed a very worrisome dimension, if you notice, it is not limited to one region, it is not a function of Nortt-east, it is not a function of South-east, even in the South-south, even in my own local government, and if you read everyday what is happening Benue state and other state.
“Most of the actions you see today are politically motivated, to try to derail the government but the government will not be derailed. And there is nothing that lasts forever, you know that everything that goes up must come down. So the insecurity you are seeing today, you will not see it again.
“We have never in the history of this nation witnessed where people in uniform are targeted for elimination. That will show you that we have infiltrators in our midst. The security of our neighboring countries must also remain a priority, because all these heavy arms entering into Nigeria when Libya failed, when Mammah Gadafi was taken out, and people looted the arms.
“If you enter Chad or Niger Republic, just like you buy Nigerian petrol by the roadside, you can pickup any arm you want, so that has led to very heavy arms entering into the wrong hands.
“In the Niger Delta region, we have been able to contain the situation, with the amnesty programme, and as I speak today, I think that is the most peaceful region today in the country. The area is very calm and we intend to keep it as such.
“So, there are many reasons that people can ascribe to it, if you say oh! Youths are unemployed, no! because many of the people that are undertaking the insecurity are not even unemployable. They are not even interested in employment, some of them are on the bases of ideology and all sorts of things. So I think most of it are from outside influence.”
On the reports of his bitter relationship with Akpanudoedehe, he said: “Let me give you an example, you heard about the Rwandan genocide. It started with one person with a rumour that an ethnic nationality have killed another ethnic nationality, and over one million lives were lost, and it was at the end of the war that it was discovered that the rumour never happened.
“What it means is that we have to be careful about what we read, and we have to be careful about what we chun out. Yes, breaking news is good but breaking news should not break the nation. So, there has never been anytime we had issues together, we have never quarrelled with one another, in fact, we have always cooperated with one another, if anything, he will use his mouth to tell you how we use to dance Kokoma, holding hands together, then we go down and come up again.
“All these things happened in 2019 elections, when we tried to install the APC government in Akwa-Ibom State, untill there was a conflict from both within and without, and that efforts was shattered. I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.
On his feelings over the visit, Akpanudoedehe said: “I want to remind you what I said two months ago. My father told me that if you go to heaven and you don’t see politicians in heaven, you have to leave because that one is hell. I asked him why, he said politicians are people who can easily resolve their problems without fighting. That is why when you people open your mouth or your pen on issue of politics we always laughing because you will not know when we will laugh and resolve these issues.”
