The Former Chief of Army Staff Retired General Abdulrahman Danbazau has urged politicians to always put issues that affect lives and the wellbeing of citizens first in their manifestos.
He advised the annual Public Lecture organised by a national daily, Blueprint Newspaper held in Abuja, Nigeria.
He said that the quest for elective offices should be seen as a strategy for dealing with insecurity in the country.
The Blueprint Newspaper Annual Public Lecture and awards with the theme ‘2023 Politics: National Security and Nigeria’s Stability’ brought together politicians, security experts, business moguls and the media among others to discuss politics and national security.
General Danbazau highlighted several challenges to the 2023 elections including, insecurity, religion, tribalism and activities of indigenous people of Biafra IBOP that the political class need to focus attention on.
He noted that attending to the needs of Nigerians such as education, poverty reduction programmes, access to health and other social amenities will go a long way in addressing insecurity in Nigeria.
The former Army boss who commended the efforts of Nigerian security in attending to the insecurity issues in Nigeria said that insecurity may hamper the forthcoming elections if security agencies did not tackle the situation.
He challenged Nigerian security to flush out bandits for peace and development.
General Danbazau also advocated for the reform, strengthening and restructuring of Nigerian security architecture in line with the current and future security threats.
“Between now and 2023 when the new government may have been sworn-in, it is necessary to rethink and review counter-terrorism and counter-Insurgency strategy including putting the Nigerian Police in its proper position with improved capacity to ensure law and order. However, of great importance is that actions against these violent criminals must be intelligently driven”. Danbazau said.
Similarly, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State North Central Nigeria, said that the security situation in Nigeria can be tackled within six months if key players take it seriously.
He urged the media to set the agenda for good governance and national unity.
Meanwhile, the Chairman and Publisher of Blueprint Newspaper Mr Muhammed Idris said, the Public Lecture was organized to exchange ideas on the best way to tackle insecurity ahead of the general elections.
Blueprint Awards was presented to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State as the politician of the year among other outstanding awards.
Dominica Nwabufo
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