Non-state actors can’t overwhelm FG —Lai Mohammed (keep dreaming – they have already)

Posted by admin Latest Politics Sunday, June 6th, 2021

3 June 2021

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says non-state actors cannot overwhelm the Federal Government.

The emergence of non-state actors has been undeniable in Southern Nigeria. Prominent amongst these actors include Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho; former militant in the Niger Delta region, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo; leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, amongst others. Some of the non-state actors have cited injustice, insecurity, amongst other reasons for their agitations.

But speaking in an interview on Thursday, the minister said the government and its security agencies are not overwhelmed by the non-state actors.

“Yes, the non-state actors may be rampaging in some parts of the country, they have not and cannot overwhelm this government,’’ he said, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

Mohammed also said that though the country is grappling with security challenges, Nigeria is not a failed state.

He was reacting to a statement by former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, and former Director with Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Robert Rotberg.

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The PUNCH had earlier reported that Rotberg and Campbell urged the United States to acknowledge that Nigeria is a failed state in the light of the many challenges plaguing the country.

“Nigeria’s worldwide companions, particularly the USA, should acknowledge that Nigeria is now a failed state. In recognition of that truth, they need to deepen their engagement with the nation and search to carry the present administration accountable for its failures, while additionally working with it to supply safety and proper financial system,” they had said in an article.

Reacting, the minister said,“Nigeria is not and cannot be a failed state’’.
Mohammed said the declaration by the Council did not represent an official US policy.

He said, “This declaration is merely the opinions of two persons, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations John Campbell, and the President Emeritus of World Peace Foundation, Robert Rotberg.

“Declaring any nation a failed state is not done at the whims and caprices of one or two persons, no matter their status.

“Just because Nigeria is facing security challenges, which we have acknowledged and which we are tackling, does not automatically make the country a failed state.”

-Punchwp_posts