Mark: We must find solution to Boko Haram

Senate President David Mark yesterday asked Northern leaders attending the ongoing Arewa Conference on peace and unity organised by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to freely discuss the Boko Haram menace so as to find solutions.He said, 'Will this conference avoid what may be regarded as sensitive issues and not discuss them; will we be able to condemn current degree of insecurity in the North occasioned and heightened by Boko Haram' Are we afraid to openly condemn Boko Haram either for political reasons or out of fear of possible attack by the sect' Have we forgotten that evil thrives when good men are silent''Speaking during the opening ceremony of the conference, Mark said the issue of the sect should be discussed by the northern leaders with a view of proffering solution to the security challenges facing the region.'We must make this more than a mere talk show. We must make concerted efforts to improve the lives of our people, especially those at grassroots. We must reaffirm our shared values and our unwavering faith in a better northern Nigeria. Let us use this occasion also to refocus our priorities, listen to each other more carefully, and find ways to bring about lasting development in our region,' he said.Mark said sincerity of purpose, consistency, transparency and honesty are all necessary ingredients to ensure peace and peaceful co-existence in the North.While extolling the virtues of late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Mark said poverty and underdevelopment, poor education, religious fundamentalism, terrorism and ethnic intolerance among others have taken over the region he built.'Sardauna and other founding fathers must be weeping in their graves at our current situation,' he said.He reiterated the readiness of the Senate to partner with the ACF and other organisations to find lasting solutions to the problems of the country within the context of one Nigeria bound in freedom, peace and unity.
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