Imported User:
Dr AbduLateef Adegbite, the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Public Awareness on Security and Civic Responsibility, has called on Nigerians to resist the militant Boko-Haram sect.
Adegbite made the call on Friday at a news conference in Abeokuta, the Ogun capital.
The call is coming against the backdrop of Thursday’s attack by the sect on three media houses in Kaduna and Abuja, in which six people were killed and many others injured.
Adegbite, who is also the Secretary-General, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), described the attack on the media as a dangerous signal aimed at intimidating the press.
He, however, expressed concern that there were faceless cabals, using the sect as a front, adding that Nigerians needed to be vigilant and united in exposing them.
Adegbite said that the sophisticated weapons used and the organised way the perpetrators of the act conducted themselves and carried out their operations, showed that they were neither ordinary people nor novice.
“Nigerians must not be cowed, despondent or surrender to the intimidating tendencies of these unscrupulous element who have continued to inflict sufferings upon innocent Nigerians.
“Once we become despondent, our strong lines will be weakened, discouragement will set in and that will be the end to the struggle,’’ he said.
He also called on Nigerians not to lose confidence in the ability of the Federal Government to handle the situation.
Adegbite, therefore, called on well-meaning Nigerians to be alert and report any suspicious movements to the relevant authorities for necessary action.
While commending the government for the efforts it was making to tackle the situation, the chairman said such efforts must be strengthened.
He said the authorities needed to employ all machinery at its disposal to handle the matter in order to strengthen the hope of Nigerians in government’s ability to protect them.
