I have seen what insecurity has meted out to Nigerians and the vulnerable group in particular women and children. State policing: if we want to go there, we should allow states that are ready.

The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.

As elections draw close, I urge us to be resolute in the choice of our leaders. The future is not about me, but it is about our children and the legacies we want to bequeath to them. I invite you to join me and our party, the All Progressives Congress to work for a better Nigeria.

The case for reviving the state does not rest uniquely upon its contributions to modern society as a collective project; there is a more urgent consideration. We have entered an age of fear. Insecurity is once again an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies. Insecurity born of terrorism, of course; but also, and more insidiously, fear of the uncontrollable speed of change, fear of the loss of employment, fear of losing ground to others in an increasingly unequal distribution of resources, fear of losing control of the circumstances and routines of our daily life. And, perhaps above all, fear that it is not just we who can no longer shape our lives but that those in authority have also lost control, to forces beyond their reach.

I believe we have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart, and I think we can. It’s mean-spirited. It’s petty. And it’s gone on for much too long. I don’t believe, like some do, that it’s naïve to talk to Republicans. I don’t think we should look at Republicans as our enemies. They are our opposition, not our enemies. And for the sake of the country, we have to work together.… Four more years of this kind of pitched battle may be more than this country can take.

Too much stress is being put on the soldiers and the RUC to solve problems which politicians have failed to solve for so many years. There must be a political solution if the gunmen are to be divided from the rest of the population.

Everywhere in Nigeria today, there is widespread concern that poverty and unemployment continue to foster intense insecurity across the nation. Several of us in the senate are not indifferent. I want to reassure you that I will continue to work with my progressive colleagues to fight and agitate for legislation that will lead to the creation of jobs for our youths.

Nigerian politicians treat and approach political contests as the equivalent of warfare in which they have to conquer their opponents through the deployment of everything at their disposal.

It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom. It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques-techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.

We must unite to achieve our common goal. I know you are concerned about what is happening at home. We, as an ethnic group, have been denied the presidency of Nigeria for so long. However, we cannot make progress by becoming internally divided, with some of our major stakeholders working against our collective interests. But we must not box ourselves into a corner. We must continue to build pragmatic partnerships and anchor our aspirations on strategic engagements, alliances, and negotiations which, while tapping into our collective goodwill and progressive agenda, will advance our political interests.

We have always advocated for finding a political solution. We have always been against violence from whichever quarter it comes from. So I think, all political parties in the south should get together and offer a political solution paving the way for discussions with the LTTE and other Tamil leaders.

I think the first thing is to warn INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) to be careful. It is in their interest to be good neighbors to Nigerians and prove that the country was not a banana republic as the ruling party is making us believe.

I am begging you, politicians. You represent the people, and you are supposed to show sound judgement. Politics should not be used to create hatred because the country is in trouble now. Don't take this opportunity to cause any further trouble.

This is an undeniable fact and since this has a political root cause, the political leaders need to find a solution to this.