Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has urged politicians in the country to resist the temptation of playing politics with security matters.
Speaking at a Security Management Workshop organised by the Department of State Security (DSS) in Benin City, the state capital yesterday, the governor warned that playing politics with sensitive security matters will only embolden the perpetrators.
He said: “Nothing else matters when we are not safe. I also want to advise those of us who hold political office and have cause to make public statements that we must resist the temptation of politicising security issues.
“All politicians, whether of the ruling or opposition party, must not join in the madness of politicising security issues.
“If we do this, we will be encouraging kidnappers and other evil-minded people.
“We must resist the temptation and trust that the security agencies know what to do.
“Even where we have information, it is better we share it in private with the security agencies so that all of us can be on the same page”.
Oshiomhole added: “Each and everyone of us, being senior officials of government, people look at us that we should be able to educate those we come across on basic security issues.
“These people who are into violent crimes and terrorism do not live in the moon; they live with us. Sometimes they interact with us without us knowing what their intentions are.
“As we all get more security conscious, we know what to watch out for whenever we find ourselves in public places”.
Gov. Oshiomhole thanked the DSS for coming up with the workshop and expressed the hope that at the end, the participants would have comprehended basic tips on security.
In his remarks, the DSS State Director, Bello Bakori, said the workshop was to sensitise the people to be security conscious.
He added that most of the criminals in the society live with the people and security agencies carry out their assignments based on information.
