PRESIDENT Muhamamdu Buhari has said that criminals are taking advantage of his adherence to democratic norms to perpetrate evil in the country.
Buhari stated this in his Democracy Day speech on Saturday, noting that some criminals were taking undue advantage of the difficult situation in the country.
He noted that criminals took advantage of his administration’s concentration on the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East to wreak havoc on other parts of the country.
“When you elected me as your president in 2015, you did so knowing that I will put an end to the growing insecurity, especially the insurgency in the North-East, but the unintended consequences of our scattering them in the North East pushed them further in-country which is what we are now facing and dealing with.”
The president however said that his administration was addressing the security challenges and would soon bring some of the culprits to justice.
“We are, at the same time addressing the twin underlying drivers of insecurity namely poverty and youth unemployment,” he noted.
Buhari, who disclosed that he was worried over the state of insecurity in the country, condoled with the families of victims of various forms of violent crime in the country.
“I also share the pains of families and direct victims of ransom-seeking, kidnapped victims who went through unimaginable trauma in the course of their forced imprisonment.
“Once again, I want to render my sincere and heart-felt condolences to the families and friends of our gallant service men and women who lost their lives in the line of duty and as a sacrifice to keep Nigeria safe,” the president said.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.