House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has likened secession agitators to members of terrorist groups, Boko Haram and Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP).
He described them as criminals masquerading as secession activists to unleash mayhem on innocent Nigerians and engage in economic sabotage.
Gbajabiamila made the comparison in Abuja while addressing members of the House on resumption from their summer vacation.
Gbajabiamila, who assured that the House would no longer fold its arms and watch the agitators cause disunity in the country, stated that now was the time for statesmen to act beyond the petty considerations of politics for Nigeria to achieve greatness.
He said: “In the South of Nigeria, East and West, miscreants, and criminals masquerading as separationist activists have emerged to wreak havoc, take lives and commit economic sabotage against fellow Nigerians and against the state.
“These people, in their inclination for devastating violence against fellow citizens, their appetite for the destruction of private property, their disruption of academic activities, commerce, and industry, their propensity for defiling institutions of the state, society, and community, their refusal to engage in debate, or to consider the possibility of dissenting opinions and alternative viewpoints are no different from Boko Haram and ISWAP.
“Given space and time, they will take our nation down the same path of destruction. We know from experience that neither appeasement nor overwhelming violence alone will work.”
