Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Olu Falae has said that an outbreak of ethnic war would have ensued between the Fulani and the Yoruba if he had been killed by his abductors.
He spoke in Akure when former Education Minister Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau paid him sympathy visit over the incident.
Falae, who also served as a Finance Minister said that he survived the abduction through the grace of God as the abductors attempted to kill him.
He said: “God has a way of doing His things. I know God just decided to spare my life; God really saved my life; they tortured me; stripped me naked and did a lot of things to me in their den, they attempted to kill me but they did not succeed.
“I also thank God for making me to survive the ordeal because if they had killed me there, many lives would have been lost too. It (my death) would have become an ethnic war between the Yoruba and the Fulani. So, I thank God that the matter did not get to that level.”
Mallam Shekarau said community policing remained the only solution to the security challenges in the country.
The former Kano State governor said there was need for government at all levels to encourage community policing.
He noted that the regular policemen could not do the policing alone.
Shekarau said: “The issue of security should be the concern of everybody and not only that of policemen alone . Our governments should do everything possible to encourage community policing.
“Everybody should be a policeman; everybody should be his brothers’ keeper. We should learn how to immediately report any act of criminality to the security agencies.
“It is very unfortunate that this kind of thing happened to an elderly man like Chief Falae who had served this country meritoriously.
“Somebody like Chief Falae, who has served Nigeria and is still serving, should not be paid with such a price.”
He urged Chief Falae not to be discouraged but be strengthened by the unfortunate experience.
According to him, the Ilu-Abo, Akure-born chief should see his ordeal as a price or a test.
