Masari: Declaring state of emergency won’t solve security challenges

Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina, says declaring a state of emergency on the nation’s rising insecurity will not address the current challenges.

On Tuesday, the house of representatives asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency over insecurity in Nigeria.

Speaking on the development on Thursday after meeting with Ibrahim Gambari, chief of staff, at the presidential villa, Masari noted that declaring a state of emergency will overstretch the efforts of security agencies.

The governor urged Nigerians to view the security challenges beyond partisan politics, adding that it is a national concern.

“It cannot, because how can state of emergency solve the problem? You have a situation where the military are in all the states of the federation, then you ask yourself, how many do we have? Are we not overstretching them?” he asked.

“So, the reality is that the responsibility of securing this country is ours — all of us. We have a role to play, and we must play it for the sake of the country and for the sake of our children and grandchildren, not for the sake of the persons that are in office.

“I think we have to understand that whatever we do to restore security today, we are not doing it for one particular person or group of persons, but we are doing it for all of us, for the country and in fact, for Africa. A stable Nigeria means a stable sub-Saharan Africa.

“So, I think we better be serious about this issue of security. If you say set up state of emergency, what do you do? We have the same people, the same security agencies, the same capacities, and the same resources. So, what are we talking about?

“We have a problem that everybody has a role to play; we better play it. The security situation of this country is beyond partisan politics. It’s a national concern for all of us — every responsible person in this country.”

Asked about the state of security in his state, he said the situation is improving.

“We’re hopeful that working together with the security agencies and the responsible people and also the repentant bandits, we’ll be able to have our state back to normalcy,” he added.