Lagos — THE immediate past governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday warned the authorities to immediately address the insecurity in the land or allow Nigerians to seek self help.
He spoke at the launch of a book, The Nigerian Political Turf: Polity, Politics, Politicians, just as Governor Kayode Fayemi said the insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamic sect has inevitably re-opened the debate on the future of the country as a united federal entity.
The duo alongside, House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal used the occasion of the book launch to praise what they described as the tenacity and resourcefulness of Nigerian journalism.
The launch of the book authored by Mr. Bolade Omonijo, Group Political Editor of The Nation Newspaper also attracted several other governors including, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Mr. Peter Obi of Anambra state, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, veteran journalist and economist, Haroun Adamu, Mr. Odia Ofeimum, the cream of the Nigerian media among others.
Tinubu who was represented by Dr. Lekan Pitan, a commissioner in his cabinet said: "The problem of insecurity and bombing ravaging the nation require an urgent action. The government must act quickly to curtail the activities of Boko Haram before Nigerians resort to self-help. The debate for state and community policing has been long overdue and it is time for Nigeria to decentralise the police force, in order to arrest the problem of insecurity.
For Nigeria to move forward, there is need for courageous, visionary and committed leaders at all levels of governance," Tinubu submitted.
Recommending the book to the public, he said:
"The book Polity, Politics, Politicians is well loaded and well articulated with various problems facing the Nigerian political development. Bolade Omonijo belongs to the courageous writers in Nigerian journalism today."
"All the issues raised in the book are issues that confront us as a nation because it talks about the 1999 constitution, lack of true federalism, problems of Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, and other issues as it bothers on corruption, political, economic and social well-being of the country."
Failure of leadership
Governor Fayemi, who was the Guest Speaker, in his lecture titled: The Nigerian Polity, politic and Politicians: Moving from Transaction to Transformation, expressed concern on the increasing militarization of the polity, saying that it portends a great danger.
"At the core of the crisis, either in the Niger Delta or in the North is the failure of politics to allocate authority and legitimise it and use it to achieve the social as well as economic ends that is conducive to communal well-being.
"In this sense the current debate on Boko Haram insurgency is about the status and quality of democracy in Nigeria, a debate about the future of the country as a united, federal entity."
Habit of reading
Also speaking, Tambuwal commended the foresight of the author, just as he implored other media practitioners to follow his path.
"We are encouraging other journalists to put their experiences in a book form because by reading, we set to know the characters and plots that have taken place in our political landscape in Nigeria
"It is only by reading that we can transport ourselves to different adventures, different cultures and it is with reading of books during our generation that impacted on our lives because it remains the only source of knowledge" he noted.
Continuing, he said, "the book that is being launched today is an important topic because it bothers on our day-to-day activities as a nation and it is important we all cultivate the habit of reading in order to have an insight on the political situation in our country." The book was reviewed by Mr. Kunle Ajibade.
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