Atiku to FG: Internal security not call for secession

TRACKING____Former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has disagreed with the Federal Government’s position on the establishment of internal security outfit by some state governments for the safety of their people.

This is just as he called on the National Assembly to give the necessary legal framework to enable such outfits to function effective.

Atiku in a statement Tuesday, said the nation’s armed and paramilitary forces are overstretched and commend people who volunteered themselves for the protection of lives and property.

“To say that we do not need the services of those who are patriotic enough to voluntarily put their lives at risk to ensure the protection of the lives and property of Nigerians is to deny the obvious,” he said.

Atiku, who was candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, said: “There is too much insecurity in the land and too much inefficiency from the Federal Government, leading to wanton and unnecessary loss of lives.
“It is easy to think that all is well when you are in secure State Houses, but the reality is that the security situation is far from fine for the average Nigerian citizen.”

According to him, the right to self-defense, including the right to combat terror, is guaranteed by international law and is enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, of which Nigeria is a signatory.

He condemned attempts by the Federal Government to outlaw community policing, adding that “no human ambition is worth the failure to speak in support of the people in order to remain in favour with the oppressors of the people.”