Lawmakers Decry Violence In Northern Nigeria

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Two lawmakers at the Lagos State House of Assembly have condemned the violence that erupted in some parts of Nigeria following the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan as winner of the just concluded presidential election in the country.

The violence had resulted in the burning down of churches, offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and destruction of properties by irate youths who were aggrieved over the declaration.

Speaking with Assembly Matters on the issue, the Majority Leader, Taiwo Kolawole and the Chairman, House Committee on Science and Technology, Omowunmi Olatunji-Edet, described it as barbaric.

According to them, it was saddening that such violence and destruction could be perpetrated despite the fact that the election was widely acclaimed to be free and fair.

Kolawole, who explained that the alliance between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) would have given President Jonathan a strong challenge, said the protesters should have joined in congratulating the President rather than taking to the streets and killing innocent Nigerians.

“It is wrong for you to think that your tribe is born to rule a country. I am one of those who criticise rotational presidency because we don’t need to predetermine where or who would win the next election.

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“We should let people struggle from whatever part of the country and if they are lucky or good enough, they would win. Predetermining the zone would affect the quality of the person that would eventually be elected and that is not good for us.

“Why should people not vote for Jonathan when only five people sit somewhere and declare that they are picking a candidate for the entire North? What are the credentials of those picking candidates? Many of them assisted in ruining our country,” he said.

He also warned that should the violence continue, militants from neighbouring countries may be recruited by the people, while charging President Jonathan to rescue the situation and put an end to the spate of killings in volatile areas of the country.

Also, Olatunji-Edet said the situation in the area called for speedy action on the part of the Presidency, while calling on security agencies in the country to assist in putting an end to the violence.

“Based on what I have heard and read about the protest, it is saddening to see people in the same community treating others in the same community as animals. It is inhuman.

“Before now, the North had enjoyed the patronage of everybody in the country, so if the Southern part of the country now wins in a free and fair election, I wonder why that should evolve violent reactions. If the President keeps quiet, the violence would spread,” she said, while commiserating with the families of those who lost their lives in the protests.

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