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Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday appealed to the people of the southeast zone and Imo State people in particular to resist attempts by hoodlums to thwart their peace which would consequently stall progress and development in the area.
Osinbajo was reacting to Monday’s attack on the Nigerian Correctional Services and the Police Headquarters by some hoodlums when he made the appeal.
The vice president was in the state to commission some roads – Dick Tiger Road and Dick Tiger Street – abandoned for 28 years, but which Governor Hope Uzodimma recovered.
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After a tour of the two federal government institutions, the Vice President noted that an attack on a critical institution of law enforcement such as the Police Station and Prison is an attack on the security and well-being of citizens and described such act as ‘atrocious and condemnable.’
His words: ‘When you attack institutions of law and order it is evidence it is not an attack on justice as usual. It is an attack on the welfare and well-being of the people, especially when you free prisoners, some of who may be dangerous to the community, dangerous to the people. It is particularly atrocious and condemnable. Government has already taken steps to enhance security here and in the Correctional Facilities and the State generally and that is a continuing process.’
Osinbajo added: ‘Perhaps more than any other part of the country, this region has borne witness to the very terrible cost in life, liberty, and progress that is exacted by conflict. It is a least beautiful lie that our country learned an enduring lesson in the futility of violence for there are those who believe that to resolve conflicts and issues other than by violence is cowardice.
‘If the voice of their hatred prevails, we will experience a terrible and needless loss of lives that violence exerts.’
He acknowledged that the Nigerian system is not perfect, but insisted that ‘what democracy and institution of a democratic governance provide are channels for seeking a peaceful resolution to conflicts and injury.’
The Vice President said there were many working tirelessly every day to improve the system and called on Nigerians to reject agents of anarchy that seek to weaponize the frustrations and discontent of the youths for their own profits. He warned that the path of violence can only lead to the destruction and desolation of communities.
Prof Osinbajo warned that peace should not be taken for granted, ‘because it was dangerous to learn the value of peace through the horrible crucible of war.’
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