23rd January, 2012
The Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, has appealed to “all Nigerians to rise up to the defence of the Nation and its citizens.”
The appeal was contained in a statement issued by the Assistant Director (Press) of the Ministry, Mr. Ben Goong and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Moro, who was reacting to Friday’s attack by the Boko Haram sect in Kano, also appealed to Nigerians to remain calm in the face of provocations by the sect.
The statement said that the minister was speaking in Calabar during an official visit.
“This is not religion, it is not ethnic, but a senseless war, man’s inhumanity to man,” the statement said, adding that the minister described the attack as “one too many given the frequency with which they occur.”
It appealed to members of the public to provide useful and timely information on the activities of the sect, noting that patriotic surveillance and information sharing remained the best strategies in confronting the evil.
The statement said that the minister urged all security agencies to “raise their surveillance flags to the highest level,” particularly in public places, churches, and mosques, with a view to detecting and preventing further attacks from the sect.
“What was required to tackle these forces of evil was not only armoury, but also a highly patriotic sense of surveillance and intelligence sharing by all Nigerians.
“Doing otherwise will amount to each and every one of us signing our death warrants in the hands of the sect.”
The statement said that Moro condoled with families and relations of deceased victims and those injured in the attacks, and prayed the Almighty God to grant the deceased eternal rest.