Newsie Events:
Following an announcement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that government had identified 96 sponsors of terror groups in Nigeria, the Apex pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has challenged the Federal Government to immediately begin the prosecution of the identified 96 alleged sponsors of terrorism in the country instead of constantly announcing them to the public.
The group’s challenge came on Friday in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi after Federal Government’s announcement.
Recall that at a press conference on Thursday, Mohammed had informed Nigerians that apart from the identified terror sponsors, 123 companies and 33 Bureau De Change operators were also indicated and were linked to terrorists.
However, Afenifere in its statement, noted that beyond the rhetoric, Nigerians will never take the government serious if it fails to begin the process of prosecuting the suspects immediately.
“The periodical disclosure of terrorist sponsors by the Federal Government no longer impresses majority of Nigerians as many of the claims and promises made in the past by the government were not followed up with necessary actions,” the statement reads.
“Other than occasional reports of bombardments of terrorists’ camps by the military, no concrete steps are seen to be taken by the government to tackle the roots of the problem.
“Indeed, the failure of the government to act decisively in this respect has emboldened the terrorists to be more daring – leading to the death of thousands of people and capturing of many communities particularly in the northern part of the country by the terror groups,” Afenifere said.
The group reminded the government of some Nigerians listed last year by the United Arab Emirate to be among the 39 terrorists on its wanted list were tried and convicted for setting up a Boko Haram cell in the UAE to raise funds and material assistance for insurgents in Nigeria, but nothing was done to repatriate and bring them to justice.
“Nigeria was supposed to follow up on that but has not. Meaning that foreign countries appear to be more concerned about insecurity and terrorism acts going on in Nigeria even more than our own government seems to be.
“Various officials of the Federal Government had, at different times, talked about the government’s efforts at curtailing the menace of terrorism that is gradually enveloping the country, yet no concrete steps have been to be taken by the government to tackle the roots of the problem.”
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