Boko Haram - Military approach will worsen situation –Rep member, Segun Williams

Hon. Segun Williams

Military approach will worsen situation –Rep member
…Urges Jonathan to dialogue with the sect
From MOSHOOD ADEBAYO AND TAIWO BANKOLE, Abeokuta


A member of the House of Representatives, Segun Williams has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to dialogue with Boko Haram sect, saying mere killing would not subdue them.
Williams, who defeated the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole during the last general election, gave this advice, while addressing a press conference at Iwe Irohin House, Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta, Ogun State at the weekend.

The lawmaker representing Abeokuta South Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) lamented that the issue of the sect had reached a stage where people are afraid to talk about it in public. He added that the threat being posed by the sect had reached an unbearable state, adding that the sect now have cohorts in every nooks and crannies of the country.

According to him, the military approach being adopted by the Federal Government towards the sect would only worsen the situation. The legislator, who lamented that the sect was faceless, stated that dialogue was the only weapon for resolving issues in democracy. He argued that the presidency had taken a dangerous position by admitting that there was Boko Haram in government, while revealing that the House had set up a committee made up of Ex- Generals to investigate the issue.

Williams described the escape of the alleged member of the sect, Kabiru Sokoto, who allegedly masterminded the Christmas Day Bombing in Madalla, Niger State from the custody of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as unfortunate. He further revealed that Sokoto was an Engineer who believed in the ideology of Boko Haram, while explaining that he escaped through connivance of some people. The lawmaker urged Nigerians not to be carried away by the reduction in the pump price of petrol to N 97 cautioning that government could still carry out full deregulation.

Williams faulted the 25 per cent reduction in the salary of political appointees at the Federal level saying, salary is nothing, it is the allowances that money is embedded. He charged Nigerians to request for more palliative measures from the Federal Government, pleading with them to give the government the benefit of the doubt on the implementation of funds from subsidy removal.

The lawmaker admitted that there was fraud in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but assured that the House of Representatives would do everything within its powers to reduce the scourge.