PRO-DEMOCRACY activists, led by Dr Tunji Braith-waite and Chief Ayo Ade-banjo, in Lagos, on Tuesday, warned President Goodluck Jonathan against seeking foreign assistance in resolving the issue of the dreaded Islamic sec, Boko Haram.X-raying the security situation in the country, especially the terror being unleashed on innocent citizens in the northern part of the country, Chief Braithwaite, at a media parley, said conceding to the pressure for the assistance of the international community, rather than solving the problem would aggravate it.

Braithwaite said “we are sad at the loss of several lives in some part of the North. We are not condoning the act of terrorism. We fear that the act might escalate in the country.

“This Boko Haram goes deeper than religion, so we are sounding a note of warning to religious leaders not to take the matter as religious one.

‘The issue of Boko Haram is about corruption that has eaten deep into our system of governance, corruption has become a king in Nigeria and it has to be dethroned.

“We know that the international community has offered to work with Nigeria in tackling Boko Haram menace, but we take this a pinch of salt.

“The international community should stay, because they caused most of our problems and what they are only interested in is our oil exploitation, so the president should not accept this.

“We don’t need international interference at this moment, because it is only a Greek gift and it will only exacerbate our problem.”

On the way out, Dr Braithwaite said what the country needed now was dissection not reform as being clamoured for by the section of the country, adding that members of the National Assembly could not work on the constitution because this same faulty constitution produced them.

He called on President Jonathan to convene a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) that would be done without the National Assembly.

“It is very important that the president does this before our problems get out of hand.

“Jonathan should begin to see himself as not a captive of his party. He must free himself from the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), because now is the time to convene SNC.

“He must realise that the issue of Boko Haram can’t be solved by the government alone.

“Insecurity in the country has reached a level at which we are all concerned, but it will be unfortunate for the government to see views of some people as enemies’ views. All hands must be on deck to tackle this menace,” he said.

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