National conference’ll resolve security challenges – Mark

Senate President David Mark on Monday urged Nigerians to embrace the proposed National Conference as a platform to tackle the current security crisis in some northern parts of the country.

Mark made the apeal in his Eid-el-Kabir message to Nigerians titled, ‘Let us make Nigeria a better place.’

He noted that the unabating security challenges facing the nation was unfortunate and pleaded with people of goodwill to rise up to tackle the menace.

Mark, in the statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan,  remarked that “with the collective resolve and determination of all of us we can solve the problem and live like one big united nation where no one is oppressed or afraid of each other.”

He described the nation’s size and its diversity  as a positive strength to make the nation a great one even as he insisted that “God did not make a mistake in putting us together in one country.”

The Senate President said the current challenges facing the country had made it imperative for Nigerians to agree as a people to address their collective problems “in an open, frank and honest manner.” “Nobody is coming from the moon or space to solve our problems,” he said.

The platform offered by the national conference or dialogue committee, Mark added, was “a needed elixir and avenue to reconcile any misgivings.”

He, therefore, implored all Nigerians to take advantage of the national conference to present their positions so that “we can continue to live in peace and united like a people with a common mission and purpose.”

“We should therefore use our strength and God given potential for good in spite of the challenges,” he added.

Mark urged Nigerians across the divide to close ranks and work together to make the nation a peaceful and better place for all.

Meanwhile, the All Cross River Youth Forum on Monday vowed to reopen discussion at the proposed National Dialogue on the ceded Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon on the grounds that the territory still existed in the constitution of Nigeria.

The group said it would also push for the return of the territory to Cross River State which originally owned the territory.

In a statement by its coordinator, Mr. James Ibor,  in Calabar, the ACRYF said the handing over of Bakassi remained illegal until the Nigerian constitution was amended to grant the ceding.

The group stated, “Nigeria’s constitution clearly spells out that for any part of the country to be ceded, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must be amended and that was not done in the case of the Bakassi handover as neither the Senate of Nigeria nor the House of Representatives passed a bill approving the handover.”