Mr. Nyong Jonathan Udoeyop, a retired lecturer of the University of Uyo and a Lay Preacher in the Methodist Church tells Nseobong Okon-Ekong that insecurity can be curbed if all groups who feel the Nigerian state has offended them offer peace to the country
A few years ago, insecurity was majorly confined to Northern Nigeria, now it is everywhere. What can be done to curb insecurity in Nigeria?
We first have to know what we mean by insecurity and then the cause of insecurity. You cannot actually run away from this truth that for every cause there must be an effect. There is something that causes insecurity. It is an effect of something-either something present or something absent. You can use traditional methods or use any borrowed method from anywhere, but first of all, what is the cause? We admit that insecurity is an effect of something. Something either present or absent among us. Taking Nigeria generally, the primary cause of insecurity is the absence of forgiveness. It started in the North. You could pin it then to Boko Haram, but there was something before which causes insecurity. Before Mohammed Yusuf there was Maitasine and by and large, Maitasine did not forgive or could not forgive fellow Muslims for not being the kind of Muslim he was. And the other type of Muslims could not forgive him. Then came this Yusuf with his own brand of Islam. Generally he could not forgive non-Muslims for being who they are and the non-Muslims did not forgive him for being who he was. That is at the religious level. At the political level, even before independence, in the Eastern region, we had a movement called COR State (Clalabar Ogoja Rivers) Movement. In the North you heard about the Middle Belt struggle. In the West you heard about something which led to the creation of Mid West State. In each of those instances, you had a minority versus majority-the mentality which causes the minority to be threatened.