Posted by By PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi on
Second Republic Minister of Internal Affairs, Dr Ibrahim Tahir has warned that the rising wave of political assassinations.....
Second Republic Minister of Internal Affairs, Dr Ibrahim Tahir has warned that the rising wave of political assassinations in the country could put a halt to the democratic process as the nation glides towards the 2007 elections.
He expressed the fear that the tempo of assassinations could increase in the months preceding the elections saying that after the nominations, assassinations could reach something very ‘horrible'.
Tahir blamed the situation on the intervention of the military in politics and the inability of the politicians to imbibe the principles of democratic governance.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Sun in Bauchi while reacting to the assassination of Lagos Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant, Engr. Funsho Williams, Tahir lamented that, "the elite of our society are very ill conditioned to accept the principles of democratic governance. They have not stabilised internally to accept the kind of obligations that go with the rights involved in our democracy."
Tahir said the political killings would most likely continue unless serious re-orientation of the people towards civil society and civilian politics was done to stop the decline in moral code and standard of behaviour.
"It will not receive the attention it deserves for a little while until the killings rise to a crescendo", he noted, adding, "I believe that the things you used to have in the US, where people have syndicate whose job is secretly to assassinate people, has already come here in a very crude way .
"I am afraid we are going to see more assassinations, which is my belief. I am not even sure whether these assassinations will call a halt to political campaigning and call a halt even to the elections.
"Perhaps what ignites the thing is the fact that Nigeria today has a bulging population of very, very young men between the ages of 18 and 32 who do not appear to have the wherewithal to sustain life .The government of Nigeria must halt the proliferation of universities until and unless they are prepared to match the growth with employment opportunities."
He continued: "The consequences of letting people loose on society with half-baked minds, half-baked understanding, with very, very little home training is the direct product of young men who carry machetes, spikes, and clubs and hitting people."