FORMER Anambra State Governor Peter Obi said the security situation in the state was caused by the failure of the Federal Government.
Obi stated this during his appearance on Arise Television on Monday while reacting to a recent statement by the Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, who had threatened to declare a state of emergency in Anambra following deteriorating insecurity in the state.
While cautioning that leaders at all levels should be conscious of their utterances, Obi said an elected government should not be removed because of security challenges which only the Federal Government was empowered to solve.
“The Federal Government should not talk about a state of emergency. Failure of security in Anambra state is their failure because they are in charge of security. Unless they are saying they’re going to declare a state of emergency on the country,” he said.
“People in government, when they make statements, should always, first of all, evaluate and think about the implications of their statement to the overall wellbeing of the country.
“People don’t know that the greatest contributors to GDP growth are intangible assets, which are security, law and order, and even the behaviour and statement of the leaders.
“The statement of leaders can actually hurt the place. So leaders must always ensure that their words have always gone through scrutiny.”
Malami had drawn the irk of Nigerians and the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after he boldly said that the declaration of a state of emergency would not be ruled out in Anambra to ensure that the November 6 governorship election in the state took place.
But shortly after his meeting with the president on Thursday, Governor Willie Obiano told journalists that Buhari was not interested in declaring a state of emergency in the state.
“I just finished meeting with the president and I mentioned it and the president didn’t suggest that. The president is firm, he wants a peaceful election in Anambra State. He wants a free and fair election in Anambra State, that’s the president for you,” he said.
“But if people in his party are going around making insinuations, using his name to do things, the president clearly told me that he does not support that, full stop,” Obiano told journalists in Abuja.
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