Obasanjo links spate of violence to injustice, defends police
From Madu Omuorah, Abuja
PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday spoke on the issue of continued violence in Nigeria, saying it is a by-product of perceived injustice.
He added however that in all situations, the Police have been alert to their duties.
In the case of Anambra State, where for three days hoodlums unleashed mayhem, President Obasanjo defended the police, saying they were overwhelmed.
Despite that, he said the Police arrested 19 people who were part of the violence, adding that they have been charged to court.
President Obasanjo, who spoke on the Special Presidential Media Chat on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) with representatives of the Nigerian children, stated that in the Niger Delta, there has been a disintegration of communities as the area has been taken over by militias.
The President said that from childhood, Nigerians have to inculcate the tenets of religion, including the virtues of love, service and good neighbourliness.
As a lasting solution to political violence, President Obasanjo counselled that the nation must build into the political system the values of justice, fairness and fair play.
His words: "As I was coming, reports came that one religious leader has been murdered. And we have to take action to prevent more killings. Conflicts could be started by religious, political, ethnic and even economic differences. But there is no religion that says the only way you can go to heaven is to kill people in other religions. So, if people take to violence, they could not have been believers. So, from childhood, we have to inculcate the tenets of religion: love, to serve humanity by serving God, to live peacefully with your neighbours.
"In politics, when you allow injustice, there is no way you can have peace. Injustice and peace are strange bedfellows. In most areas where we have political violence, we have perceived political injustice. We must build in our political social system, justice, fairness and fair play. Corruption is one area of gross injustice. We must have a society where political injustice is not the norm.
"As regards Anambra, I was not even in the country. When I got the news, I asked the police to double the strength in Anambra. The Police said they arrested 19 people and charged them to court. They arrested them with their buses. It is not as if violence is watched on TV but it is whether Police acted. If we have to arrest all the people, it will be difficult. We may need all the Police in Nigeria to arrest the mob."
On the Niger Delta, the President remarked: "I met 35 youths here. They were all self-confessed murderers. We tried to know what has really gone wrong. The first thing is that the communities have disintegrated; their community spirit and values have disintegrated. So there is nothing to bring them together.
"In Okrika, we have four militia groups. So we deal with issue of militia. We have over 1,000 rifles. We are also rebuilding the communities.
"This thing belongs to us and everybody should be able to benefit from it. In civil war, we all came from all parts of Nigeria to save the Niger Delta and Nigeria. We have political parties today with two standards. You cannot do that and have peace in the society. We have to have even-handedness. We have to reduce unemployment."
President Obasanjo said his administration had taken firm measures to bring child-labour under control.
For instance, he said the administration did not only put in place a law to deal with known culprits of child trafficking, but also has an agency handling the situation.
He acknowledged the support of some European countries where trafficking in children is high, citing Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
He, however, admitted some difficulties in implementing the law effectively, identifying the slow nature of the justice system in the country as one of the impediments.
For instance, he told the children that he had been pursuing a libel in court since 1981, adding that after almost 23 years, he was yet to get over it.
The special media chat witnessed the presentation of the 2004 State of the Children Report compiled by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which the President promised to study and ensure its implementation.
