Former ambassador to the Philippines Yemi Farounbi has said that Nigeria needs to take urgent action against insecurity in the wake of threats made by bandits against President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
The veteran broadcaster made the call recently while featuring on a weekly radio show, Ayekooto on Radio anchored by Olayinka Agboola and broadcast live on Splash 105.5FM, Ibadan.
The former ambassador said the threats portend great danger to the country’s unity.
Farounbi said, “The acts of the bandits have shown that they really mean business. They recently ambushed officers from the Brigade of Guards in Abuja and this is an absolute insult and injury to the sovereignty of the country and whenever I hear this, I feel ashamed of our country.”
He added, “I was once an Ambassador to the Philippines and whenever I have the opportunity of visiting Cambodia, I was treated with great honour like a saviour. One day, I ask the King of Cambodia why I was accorded that honour and he replied that that when Cambodia had problem of insurrection, it was Nigerian policemen that were drafted to quench the mutiny and create order.
“Now we are being threatened by terrorists in our country and our soldiers are almost incapacitated, the Nigerians soldiers that went to Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo but now they cannot effectively defend the territorial integrity of their country.”
The elder statesman further stated that there is no difference in the ideologies of the two frontline political parties (APC and PDP) in the country, revealing that the two major parties are only recycling politicians who have little or nothing to offer the country while citizens of the country are nonchalant towards their rights.
Farounbi said, “Instead of focusing all our attention on Muslim-Muslim tickets, we should focus more on the two fundamental issues affecting Nigeria — hunger and insecurity.”
