REACTIONS TO ABUJA BOMBING: There should be no sympathy for Boko Haram - Oyedepo

Founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, a.k.a. Winners Chapel,  Bishop David Oyedepo, has described the menace of the Boko  Haram sect as a national issue and not that of religion, saying  there should be no sympathy for any member of the sect.

Speaking with journalists in Omu Aran, Kwara State, at the  weekend Bishop Oyedepo called on the Federal Government to  tactically deal with the issue of the recent bombings by the sect   before it plunged the nation into another crisis.

"I think that this Boko Haram menace has to be frontally dealt  with before it plunges the entire nation into a very serious crisis. The Federal Government should deal with the issue tactically before  it sets the nation ablaze. Those who are behind the crisis  should be fished out and dealt with; there should be no sympathy  for them.

"Let me state clearly that this is not a religious matter, but a  national issue. This incident is too close, too risky; it has to be  frontally dealt with appropriately for the nation to be at peace,"  he said.

While absolving the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, of incompetence, as opined by some people,  Bishop Oyedepo also dismissed the calls that the IGP should  resign because the bomb blast occurred at the police  headquarters, adding that he was not the gate keeper that should  discover and apprehend those who perpetrated the act.

The bishop, who opined that it would be a disservice to Nigeria if  political interests were considered above national interest in matters  of appointment of ministers and other aides of President  Goodluck Jonathan, said that right people should be appointed to  move the nation forward.

Security agencies should expose perpetrators - Akpabio
Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, while commiserating with families of the victims of the bomb blast, charged security agencies in the country to  ensure that the perpetrators of the act are exposed.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune on the telephone on Saturday, the governor, who thanked God that the life of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, was not lost in the blast, said security was a sector of governance that impacted on every other, and as such, security men needed to be up to the task.

"The least our security agencies can do for us is to ensure that the culprits are brought to book. If there is anybody sponsoring them, they should be exposed," he said.

Bombers creating false sense of insecurity —Babatope •As Yakowa, Shekarau condemn bombing
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Ebenezer  Babatope, on Saturday, raised the alarm that those behind the  incessant bomb blasts in recent time were out to create false  political instability in the country before the international  community.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune in Abuja in reaction to the  last Thursday's bomb blast at the Police Headquarters, Chief Babatope lamented that it was disheartening that some elements in the society were trying to give a picture  that Nigeria "is politically unstable" before the international  community.

Meanwhile, Kaduna State, Mr. Patrick Yakowa and former governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, at the weekend, expressed dismay over the bomb explosion.

In a statement from Yakowa's aide on media and publicity, Reuben Buhari, he said he was  grieved that the security agencies had now become the target of such attacks at a time other nations of the world were forging ahead in terms of development and technological advancement.

According to a statement signed on Saturday by Shekarau's Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Sule Yau Sule, the former governor called on President Goodluck Jonathan to do everything in his power to ensure that the Boko Haram threat was dealt with bud soon.

'Boko Haram members are in security agencies'
The National Chairman of the Northern Democratic Forum (NDF), Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, has said members of Boko Haram have infiltrated all strategic institutions in the country, saying the "development poses serious threat to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan."

He contended that the bomb attack on the Louis Edet House brought to the fore the porosity of the Nigerian security network, "which is fast becoming a national embarrassment and disgrace to the nation's security agencies."

Vatsa, who spoke, in a telephone interview with Sunday Tribune, said this recent bomb attacks by Boko Haram had demystified even the most secured area in the country, stressing that these religious bigots could strike at anywhere because they had infiltrated all arms of the security agencies.

"The unfortunate thing is that if this thing can happen at the national headquarters of the Nigeria Police, then it can happen anywhere. In the Nigeria Police,there are members of Boko Haram. I wonder how they could go in with all the checkings at the gate," he said.

In a related development, the spiritual head and founder of Shafaudeen in Islam organisation worldwide, Alhaji (Professor) Sabit Ariyo Olagoke,  called on the Federal Government to unravel the mystery behind the bombing and bring the perpetuators to book.

In a press release issued and signed by the group's director of media and publicity, Mr. kunle Sakare, in Ibadan, Oyo State, the group stated that "we must collectively, without bias, condemn the perpetuators, find them and prosecute them."

Sacking IGP not solution —Tsav
Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, a former Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, has dismissed the call for the resignation or sack of the  Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, over the bombing of  force headquarters, Abuja, on Thursday.

In a text messages sent to journalists in Makurdi on Satuirday, Tsav  explained that the sack of the IGP would not make any  difference, stressing that developed nations like the United States of  America (USA) and Britain had, at one time or the other, witnessed  suicide bombings.

While exonerating the IGP from the bomb attack of the force  headquarters, the Tiv-born social critic said the police boss  should not be held responsible for the lapses of the officers,  "especially where he is not directly involved."

"No security in this world is fool proof.  America, with its sophisticated security system, could not protect  the twin World Trade Centre towers in New York from Al-Quaida. The British, with their excellent security network, could not stop the  bombing  of London," he  said.