Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Come out, let’s dialogue, ex-Senate Leader tells Boko Haram

Former Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, has thrown his weight behind the call for the Federal Government to dialogue with the Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko-Haram, so long as the terrorist group comes out to make their demands known to Nigerians.
Folarin stated this in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while speaking with journalists after the eight day fidau prayer for his brother, late Alhaji Suleiman Aderemi Gbolagade Emiola.
The former senate leader, who expressed worry at the menace of the terrorists group, said it is a new phenomenon, which nobody could have thought of in the last 20 years and which now poses a new challenge to the nation’s security agencies, making tackling it a herculean task.
He said there was no sacrifice too much to be made for peace to reign in the country, hence his support for dialogue between the group and the Federal Government, noting however that; “There is no way dialogue can be held with a faceless group, let them come out and tell Nigerians their grievances and demands”.
Speaking on the raging war of words between former governors, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo and Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, Folarin described it as needless, stating however that he was not yet sure of the true position of things concerning the political party membership status of Olunloyo.
His words: “I’m not sure that former governor Olunloyo had left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and I must see him first before I conclude. If it is however true, I don’t see any sense in it and I don’t see those claiming to have decamped as serious politicians, but those looking for something to eat.”
He assured that the PDP in the state had realised the need for members to close ranks ahead of the 2015 elections and everything was being done in that direction, stating that the people of the state were waiting for the party to bounce back.
Folarin continued: “What is on the lips of everybody in the state is for us to come together and that is what we all are working towards. We are aware of our responsibility to the people of the state and we cannot afford to fail them. We have all realised this and we know we don’t have a choice than to bury the hatchet and form a common front.”
The former senate leader attributed the alleged bickering within the party to its democratic nature, describing it as a good development, saying; “Ours is a party that gives room for every shade of opinion and there is no way some members will not feel aggrieved, which is why we always seem to be in crisis.
“Unfortunately to the people outside the fold, they don’t know that it is part of our inner strength and in a way, we are deepening democracy in the country. Ours is not a party where some people will sit down somewhere and make decrees for members, we hold congress for people to see and we don’t adopt candidates for elections like others,” he said.

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