The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has warned against political pretensions in the war against terrorism, urging all Nigerians irrespective of political affiliation to rise up to the challenge and arrest the inhuman act.
Mimiko threw the challenge at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration, held at the Alagbaka cenotaph in Akure, the state capital yesterday as he identified terrorism as a global challenge, stressing the need for Nigerians to use all their resources, including human, materials and spiritual endowments to fight insurgency in the country.
At the event, which also witnessed the presentation of cheques to widows of the fallen heroes by the wife of the governor, Mrs. Olukemi Mimiko, the governor submitted that all Nigerians irrespective of political affiliations, must rise up to the challenge of terrorism, citing the case of the recent terrorists’ attack in France where world leaders and opposition parties rallied against the occurrence .
According to him, there is no religion that supports man’s inhumanity to man in the form of destruction of lives and property, stressing that with the cooperation of all Nigerians, the war against terrorism would be overcome as the nation overcame the dreaded Ebola virus disease.
Mimiko reiterated his administration’s continuous support to the welfare of widows of the fallen heroes through microcredit facilities, which the state government had commenced since its inception.
He said: “We must pray for our nation, we must as a necessity pray for Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who bears more of the psychological burden of this act of terrorism. Terrorism is a global phenomenon, we must harness all our human resources, including our spiritual resources to fight terrorism. With the resilience of our nation, with the love that we have for our country, all hands must be on deck to fight terrorism,” he said.
The wreath-laying ceremony was also attended by the, chairman of Akure South Local Government, Mr. Adebayo Alarapon, regent of Akure land, Princess Adetutu Adesida, and the heads of security agencies in the state.