Osinbajo to governors: Don’t play politics with security

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has urged state governors not to play politics with matters that affect the security of the country.

Speaking during a consultative meeting with the 36 state governors on Wednesday, the acting president enjoined them to make the unity, peace and stability of Nigeria a priority.

He reiterated that unguarded and reckless comments could have dire consequences, which could result in crisis.

“We as a federal government are committed to working with the State governments in ensuring peace and stability in our country. I want to charge each and every one of us as top of the agenda for us is the peace and security of lives and properties of those who live within the borders of our states,” he said.

“The security of their lives and properties, every one of them and assuring them constantly that we are committed to ensuring that all Nigerians, wherever they may be from, can live within the borders of our states happily as brothers and sisters.

“We must not allow the careless use of words, careless expressions that may degenerate into crisis. We are a people that like to talk and we express ourselves loudly but it is expected for us to recognise that it is those same words that can cause conflagration, that can unfortunately lead to calamity.

“We must be careful of how we express ourselves. What we have seen in recent times is that some of the languages used have tended to degenerate badly and I think that we must begin to speak up against some of these things and ensure that we protect our democracy and our nation from the hands of rhetorics that may just divide us.

“It is absolutely important that we are able to make lasting and satisfactory solutions to these problems. Of course the problems are multidimensional but the states have a very important role to play especially because they are in control of land in their territories.

“I must say that I trust that all of us must appreciate the need to show greater unity of purpose and the determination to work together to resolve various challenges that arise on a constant basis for the benefit of all Nigerians regardless of party affiliations.

“We must resist the temptation to play politics especially with matters of security, but to reach for simplistic narratives that might be originally expedient and satisfying but false, deceiving and sometimes unhealthy to proper understanding of the issues. Sometimes intensions are perceived on the account of the fact that they have wrong perception about a particular thing.

“I think it is in our place to ensure that we dig down the fact and ensure that people are given the fact and ensure that we don’t colour them with politics.”