The founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, Udenta Udenta, says U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent threat to intervene militarily in Nigeria should serve as a wake-up call for the Federal Government to urgently address insecurity. Udenta, in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme Sunrise Daily, said Trump’s statement, though harsh, had forced Nigeria’s leadership to take renewed action.
“It’s a wake-up call. One of the positives of this brash statement of ‘guns-a-blazing’ and ‘disgraced country.
“It has now re-mobilised our national engine rooms. The President has started holding meetings with critical stakeholders in the Villa,” he said on Monday.
He noted that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration had often failed to lead from the front on security matters.
“Sometimes, if you don’t lead, others will compel you to lead. For years, this President and his team have refused to lead from the front on insecurity,” Udenta stated.
According to him, Trump’s remarks had applied pressure on the Nigerian leadership to take decisive steps.
“External pressure can serve as a wake-up call. If you can’t do it yourself, others may compel you to do it. If you can’t look at the mirror solidly in your locale, someone else will help you do so,” he said.
Udenta described Trump’s rhetoric as an exercise of “the bully pulpit power” of the American presidency, which, he said, “is enormous.”
He added that such external pressure could also mobilise citizens towards national unity in confronting insecurity.
Udenta, however, lamented that Nigeria’s internal security architecture had collapsed.
“The peace architecture of the state is horrifying today. It has virtually broken down into pieces and must be reconstituted,” he said.
He also criticised the inactivity within the foreign ministry, noting that the recent mobilisation of ambassadors showed the country was only now awakening.
Udenta supported the recent call by Pastor Enoch Adeboye, urging the Nigerian government to take urgent and coordinated action.
Credit: channelstv.com
