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The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has cautioned opposition politicians in Nigeria to desist from weaponising insecurity against the government in power.
She made this point at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) held at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos on Sunday, August 25, 2024.
Okonjo-Iweala delivered a keynote address entitled, ‘A Social Contract For Nigeria’s Future’ at the event well-attended by lawyers.
The former Nigerian Finance Minister noted that insecurity has been weaponised in Nigeria for political purposes by political players.
She accused some politicians of instigating insecurity to make their opponents look bad and incompetent to govern.
“We cannot have socio-economic development without security. We certainly cannot have security without development.
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“We all know that security has been weaponised in our country for political purposes by political actors, leading partly to the situation we have now.
“We have politicians who believe that the best way to make their opponents look bad is to instigate insecurity making it look like they can’t govern, regardless of whether this leads to loss of lives and property of innocent Nigerians. This has to stop," the WTO chief said.
The event was graced by former President of Ghana John Mahama and the President of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, as well as President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Newly sworn-in acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun; Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his counterpart in the green chamber Tajudeen Abbas were also represented at the event.