Chief Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun, has called on Nigerians to support President Bola Tinubu in the fight against insecurity in the country.
Oyintiloye, while speaking with journalists on Sunday in Osogbo, said that insecurity in the country was becoming alarming and this call for a sober reflection.
He said that this was the period Nigerians needed to rally round the president and its administration to find a lasting solution to the various insecurity challenges facing the country.
Oyintiloye, a former member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), condemned the recent killings, banditry, kidnapping and other criminalities across the country.
He said that there was no doubt that the president was doing everything humanly possible to restore peace to the country, urging Nigerians to desist from negative criticism that can distract him.
According to him, this is a trying period for all Nigerians, who are greatly sad with the latest multiple killings and kidnapping ravaging the country.
He urged Nigerians to take solace in God and designed a better way of addressing the situation, instead of negative criticism that will not solve the problem.
“No one is happy with the recent killings, banditry, kidnapping and other criminalities across the country, but negative criticism and name-calling by the leaders of the opposition parties is not the way forward.
“What we need at this critical period is for us as stakeholders to come together, irrespective of our political affiliation, religion and give the present administration the needed boost and encouragement.
“Security is a collective responsibility of everyone and that is why I am appealing to leaders of the opposition parties to stop playing cheap politics with security issues and narratives that can divide the country,” he advised.
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, commended the president for the prompt approval of funds to security agencies for the purchase of modern equipment to fight insecurity.
He said the recent release of N50 billion security vote to five northern states was a show of commitment by the president to minimise the spate of insecurity, “but we need to extent the gesture across the country.”
Oyintiloye, who noted that the primary responsibility of any government was to protect lives and property, said that was the more reason the larger percentage of 2024 budget was committed to security.
The APC Chieftain, however, called on the president to look into developing security architectural framework that are community based.
He called for bottom-up approach security framework that would integrate every social strata of the society, traditional rulers, religious leaders, non conventional security groups and opinion leaders in assisting security agencies in combating insecurity in their domains.
Oyintiloye advised the president to ensure that state governors rise to the occasion by nip insecurity in the bud through the creation of community security network to fortified conventional security agencies.