Lagos APC appeals for Ozekhome’s release

 Mike Ozekhome was kidnapped late on Friday evening.

The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has lamented the abduction of radical senior lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, by kidnappers in his native Edo State.

The party said that increasing cases of insecurity in Nigeria calls for urgent action to address the rising poverty level in Nigeria, which is fuelling the security crisis in the country.

In a press release in Lagos, signed by the Lagos State Interim Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, the party claimed that rather than channelling efforts to reduce poverty in Nigeria, the PDP federal government is fuelling the massive corruption and looting that had targeted resources meant for improving the lives of the people.

It said that the country risks being plunged into an intractable security quagmire unless proactive measures are taken to use the huge national resources that are being looted to address the pressing needs of poor Nigerians.

“The kidnap of Mike Ozekhome is condemnable given that he remains one of the few people that share deep empathy with the Nigerian masses on issues that border on their common interest. We see his kidnap as a sign that Nigerians are becoming increasingly insecure and this demands an urgent action aimed at taming the wildfire of youth unemployment and general poverty.

“We feel concerned that the present federal government is not interested in dealing with the issue of joblessness and increasing poverty aside from dropping laughable statistics of economic growth while the reality shows massive penury and general poverty.

“We find it detestable that the nation is being plunged into a worsening security miasma because the level of poverty continues to rise while ironically, the country harvests hugely from an unflagging oil boom, which in fourteen years of PDP corrupt and inept leadership, has left Nigeria a poverty-ridden country where various types of violent crime have made life brutish, short and nasty. APC believes that solving the problem of kidnapping and other forms of insecurity starts with engaging trained and capable Nigerians youths in meaningful work. We believe that Nigeria has the resources to ensure that its educated youths secure employment after their education instead of pursuing a life in crime,” it said.

The party also appealed “to the kidnappers of Mike Ozekhome to urgently release him as he is a wrong target.

“As a human rights activist, we want to let the kidnappers know that Ozekhome is concerned about the worsening fates of Nigerian youth and indeed all Nigerians as we wallow in unrestrained misery from the hands of political profiteers. We urge them to listen to the yearnings of Nigerians and release Mike Ozekhome from captivity so he can continue to make his contributions to the solution of the problems that presently beset the Nigerian masses, including those holding him hostage,” the statement said.