Youths Give Stakeholders Two Weeks Ultimatum To Halt Killings In The Country
BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – A coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations made up of the All Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities, Self Determination Groups, Civil Society Organizations, Professional and Youth Associations, have declared that the current dangerous situation which places the younger generation of Nigerians at the receiving end of all the violent incidences is unacceptable and must be halted.
The organisations after its meeting in Lagos at the weekend gave a two week ultimatum to all stakeholders to act decisively towards finding a lasting solution to the ongoing killings and destruction of properties in the country.
The groups pointedly stated that the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in the discharge of its primary responsibility of securing citizen’s lives and properties.
Spokesman of the NGOs, Mallam Shettima Usman Yerima, who is also the President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum said they have resolved to give a two-week ultimatum to all the stakeholders in the Nigeria project to act decisively to avoid the consequential backlash of overstressing citizen’s patience.
Yerima said; “Clearly, the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in the discharge of its primary responsibility of securing citizen’s lives and properties.
“Consequently, we urge that the President as the Chief Security Officer of the country has so far proved to be ill-prepared and incompetent to bring the situation under control.
“We warn that Nigeria, Africa and indeed the entire world may not be able to cope with the consequences of a full blown religious or ethnic war in Nigeria which the current dangerous trend portends.
“The situation also portends the immediate danger of scuttling the nation’s democratic order with the dire consequences of a drift to anarchy.
“We call on Nigerian elders, leaders of thought, theological and cultural leaders and all our international friends to step in quickly and save the situation as any further delay could be dangerous.”
The NGOs further observed; “While the militancy by Boko Haram is still active in the North-east, the general security situation is further darkened by ethnic violence, farmers/herders clashes and other forms of communal conflicts that sometimes acquire religious overtones, in addition to a new generation of Niger Delta militants and Biafran agitators threatening war against the state.
“The meeting also observed the rate at which, government soldiers kill civilians indiscriminately, the Police growing more notorious for extra-judicial murder in addition to an escalating trend by which innocent travellers and ordinary passersby are waylayed and killed by armed ethnic militias on public highways.
“It was also observed that these attacks and killings have already gotten out of hand, occurring with such frequency and sophisticated organisation that their characterisation as ‘clashes’ no longer suffices.
“While unchecked gangs of criminals plunder hundreds of communities, rape several women, kidnap innocent villagers including children and displace hundreds, some leaders, such as the Kaduna state Governor Nasir elrufai said, the number of deaths is yet insignificant for the nation to worry.
“Such callous remarks by people in authority give credence to concerns that these ugly incidences are encouraged by the tardy, untidy and often indifferent posture or attitude of the current government which has been slow, indecisive or mistaken in its responses.
“For example, it took the President in particular, several years to visit Zamfara, many more months to go to Taraba and about 10 weeks to visit Benue after the killing of thousands of citizens in those states.
“And while consoling mourners in all these states, the President only found time to blame the opposition for the continued attacks, not minding that the buck stops with him, especially on security matters; which is what being Commander-In-Chief is all about.
“In another observed lapse elsewhere, Mr President simply told foreign audience in both the United States and Britain, that the killers in Nigeria were Gaddafi trainees who dispersed across the Sahel after his death, without bothering to explain the effort his government had made to apprehend the criminal intruders.
“And rather than pursuing a collective coordinated response, the President’s approach to this and similar urgent national issues have come with grave consequences, including non-cooperation between the presidency and other arms of government and lack of coordination among security agencies to the extent that whatever measure the government has employed in dealing with the killings has failed.
“This failure has already given rise to speculations suggesting that the bloodbath is deliberately orchestrated by those holding power in order to service occultist demands, or that government is manipulating the situation to split the nation along religious or ethnic fault lines in order to gain the sympathy of certain sections in the forthcoming general elections.”
