Niger State Governor and Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Babangida Aliyu, has blamed the security challenges in the country on politicians.
He stated this when members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution to Security Challenges in Northern Nigeria, led by the Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, visited him in Minna on Monday.
Politicians, the governor said, now employed threats and coercion instead of dialogue and lobby in resolving issues and their differences.
Aliyu said, "We keep making excuses with our military background but what attempts are we making to see that we institute and entrench democracy in our country. Indeed, the political parties have no internal democracy; they are only using threats and what have you."
"Apart from threats, politicians are no longer negotiating and I think politics is all about negotiation. These days, people do not want to negotiate.
"Those who think of only threat as a democratic principle should have a rethink because we need to negotiate."
To overcome the security challenges, the governor said politicians must avoid the dictatorial posture that currently characterise the polity.
Meanwhile, Turaki hailed the governor for tackling security issues in the state.
According to the minister, the governor action is worthy of emulation.
Turaki said since the Madalla and Suleja bombings, normalcy had restored in the state.
He said, "We are here to tap your knowledge to see that the issue of insecurity in the North is tackled finally because you did not allow insecurity to linger in the state.
"We call on all Northern governors to follow your footsteps so as to achieve these goals."
The Punch
Of course they are the ones to blame cause they cause everything going wrong in this country. I agree with this big time.