Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, said that the plan by the Federal Government to ban commercial motorcycle otherwise called ‘okada’ and mining activities purportedly to curb insecurity in the country is evidence that deep or scientific thinking does not characterize how decisions are arrived at in the nation’s corridors of power.

National Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Comrade Jare Ajayi, said this in reaction to President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s move to address the insecurity ravaging the country.

It would be recalled that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Thursday in Abuja, after the National Security Council meeting, disclosed the Federal Government’s resolve, saying that “placing a ban on the use of motorcycles and mining activities will cut the supply of logistics to the terrorists.

The Afenifere chieftain said the government was wrong in its limiting logistical sources of terrorists to mining and commercial motorcycling, adding: “It is hardly surprising, therefore, that its prescription is so fatally wrong.”

According to Ajayi, such a position indicated that the availability of motorcycles popularly called Okada, and mining activities, which Malami also mentioned were what had been fueling terrorism, saying such cannot be true as he quickly recalled that okada business and mining activities had been in existence long before terrorism reared its ugly head, adding: “So these could not have been the leif motif of terrorism.”

“Also, to suppose that banning these activities would put a stop to terrorism is not only wishful thinking, but it also amounts to an induced self-delusion that can only complicate the ailment that one is suffering from,” Ajayi pointedly declared.

Afenifere spokesperson, while conceding that terrorists were using motorcycles in their dastardly acts, argued that men of the underworld would use some other means if motorbikes were not available.

“Thus, the vehicle being used by terrorists is not what government should focus its attention on but making sure that terrorism is taking out of the hearts of its perpetrators,” he advocated.

Speaking further, Ajayi faulted the Attorney- General on the claim he made that banning of motorcycles may affect only 20 per cent of Nigerians, while urging those that would be affected to be ready to make sacrifices for the remaining population.

According to Ajayi, such a position being canvassed by Malami is not only lame but betrays how much value those in authority place on the lives of Nigerians, saying 20 per cent of Nigeria’s assumed population of 200 million would be 40 million and would, therefore, mean that the Attorney- General sees nothing wrong in 40 million people “sacrificing for a cause that is not only undefined but clearly anti-people.”

This was just as the Afenifere chieftain noted that there are many countries in the world with a population of just 40 million or under, saying it thus meant that the several millions of people whose lives revolved around the two activities of okada and mining do not seem to matter to the Federal Government.

“The Attorney General went further to say that banning motorcycles may affect only 20 per cent of Nigerians and that such people should be ready to make sacrifices for the remaining population.

“Twenty (20) per cent of Nigeria’s assumed population of 200 million would be 40 million. So, Mr Malami sees nothing wrong in 40 million people ‘sacrificing’? Especially sacrificing for a cause that is not only undefined but clearly anti-people?

“There are many countries in the world with a population of 40 million or under. What about several whose livelihoods revolve around the two activities mentioned by the government? They don’t seem to matter,” he stated.

“We in Afenifere have said it repeatedly that the government has not demonstrated that it is serious about combating terrorism. Various reports in the public domain have repeatedly indicated where those who are perpetrating evil against the country are and the methods they are using.

“Government and its security agencies are even privy to better information than the ones in the public domain. Yet, the government and its agencies still found it difficult to deal with the situation as it should.

“We believe that this is not due to lack of capacity. Rather, it is due to lack of will – which is not in the interest of anybody, except those who have chosen the evil part. They must remember however that they cannot escape the wrought of God – even if they kept manipulating situations here,” he added.

Ajayi, who quickly recalled the disclosure by the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on the Kuje Prison attack to underscore the claim of insincerity on the part of the government, citing that the minister had blamed the attack on a lack of efforts to work on the intelligence gathered before the incident, and thereby making attackers carry out the attack successfully.

This was just as he queried what step had the government taken since the minister discovered an unprofessional act on the part of some officers regarding the Kuje Prison attack, adding: “So far, we have not heard that any officer or officials were reprimanded.”

“What is the purpose of gathering intelligence if you don’t use the intelligence at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way?” he queried.

Ajayi called on the government to remember that it is the lives of Nigerians that were been violently and unjustly sacrificed on a daily basis, urging the Federal Government to summon the necessary political and intellectual will to put an end to this ogre, which he said was fast consuming Nigeria at an unimaginable rate, even as he reiterated a call that Afenifere had made repeatedly on the need to allow states to establish their own police forces.

“The Federal Government should put an end to the kid-glove treatment it is giving terrorists, empower and allow security agencies to do their jobs professionally. It should also allow state governments that are so prepared to establish their police forces within the Federal system of government that we are practising,” Ajayi concluded. (Nigerian Tribune)

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