What prompted lawlessness in Nigeria, by ex-Rep. member

DAMISI OJO, Akure

A former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Joseph Akinlaja, at the weekend hinged the current insecurity and lawlessness in Nigeria on the elite class.

The former NUPENG scribe blamed them for usually breaking the law of the land, while the masses were also encouraged to follow suit by violating the law of them.

Akinlaja, who is also the Ondo State Chairman of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), spoke at a public lecture and media nite organized by the Correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ondo State Council.

The programme was held at Bliss World Resorts and Hotel, Ijapo, Akure.

Delivering the lecture entitled: “Insecurity: Roles of The Society And The Media”, Akinlaja noted that there are enough laws in the country guiding against all forms of crimes, but some people, particularly the elite, broke the laws at will.

According to him”Take for instance, the BRT Lane is meant for BRT buses, but some elites would decide to drive through the lane and Danfo drivers would follow.

“When the elite escape from the punitive measures, then the laws would become ineffective.”

The ex-lawmaker observed that the current rate of banditry and insurgence in the country was the outcome of nonchalant attitude of some parents towards taking care of their children.

Akinlaja likened the development to parents who gave birth to children without plan for their upkeep, stressing that this will produce freely armies for insurgents who recruited them to pursue their criminality.

He said” It is a clear to all of us that those who give birth to many children without caring for them are producing armies for insurgents who go out to recruit them to prosecute their nefarious ambitions.

“These children are easily recruited because they don’t have any means of likelihood and they will embrace anything that provides for their survival,” Akinlaja said.

The guest speaker, therefore, charged the organisers and all their counterparts across the nation to educate the populace on the way to ensure peace and unity in the country.

The lawmaker noted that those who were being aided by the insurgents to strap bombs on their body and sent on suicide mission should be educated on why they should ask questions, about how the master sending them had not gone on suicide bombing before them.

He called for fair treatment of those agitating for secession, suggesting that a plebiscite should be held to determine the veracity of their agitation.

The two-term Representative member cited the agitation of the Itsekiri people which led to the creation of the Mid-Western state through plebiscite

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