….Urges leaders to shun divisive politics in Easter message
From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Leader of the Senate, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, has revealed that the National Assembly is working on a legal framework to establish state police as part of a broader effort to tackle Nigeria’s deepening security crisis.
Bamidele made this disclosure in his Easter message on Sunday, where he combined a call for spiritual reflection with a sharp critique of divisive politics and a passionate plea for national unity.
“While the Authority of the National Assembly is in the process of developing legal frameworks for the establishment of state police as one of the measures to address insecurity in the country,” he stated, “we urge security agencies to work together as a team to track and apprehend all the masterminds and sponsors of terror attacks nationwide.”
The Ekiti Central lawmaker’s comment marks one of the clearest indications yet that the federal legislature may be moving toward decentralising the country’s policing system—a long-standing demand by many stakeholders in the face of persistent insecurity.
Away from policy, in the spirit of Easter, he urged leaders at all levels to emulate the sacrificial and unifying example of Jesus Christ, warning against the consequences of fueling division in a fragile federation.
“In Nigeria today, Christ’s example clearly presents us a glimpse of how we should live together as compatriots and not competitors, collaborators and not combatants, comrades and not contenders in the task of building a viable and virile federation that will serve the interest of all,” he said.
Condemning the recent killings in Benue and Plateau States, Bamidele said such acts “outrightly negated the virtues of peace and love that Jesus Christ taught,” adding that inflammatory rhetoric by political and sectional figures continues to undermine efforts at nation-building.
He warned against the weaponisation of Nigeria’s challenges for political gain, stressing, “Some political actors that always lash on the country’s challenges to push divisive narratives… are no longer playing opposition politics, but simply taking advantage of the country’s internal conditions in the pursuit of their own parochial political outcomes.”
Reaffirming the commitment of the 10th National Assembly to Nigeria’s development, Bamidele declared, “Nigeria is our ultimate project… our goal is to build a federation that will be noted for peace, progress and prosperity anywhere in the world.”