Northern youths under the
auspices of Arewa Youth Coalition for Peace, AYCP, has called on President
Muhammadu Buhari to sack his Service Chiefs, over their inabilities to tackle
the killings across the country.
The Chairman of the Coalition,
Mukhtar Muhammed made the call while insisting that the killings have severe
economic implication on the livelihood of Nigerians, especially Northerners.
Speaking in Kaduna, Muhammed
issued a 12-week ultimatum to Buhari to end all killings or he will face mass
protest from the youths.
He noted that the security of
lives and property was the primary responsibility of every government, saying,
any government that cannot fulfil this fundamental constitutional obligation
has no moral claim to political power not to talk of seeking to remain therein.
According to Muhammed, “For us as
an NGO, one of our cardinal responsibilities is to promote peaceful coexistence
in the region.
“Fellow Nigerians, this press
conference has become absolutely incumbent upon us as patriots of our great
country in view of the wanton killings in Nigeria, particularly the northern
region.
“Suffice it to say that parts of
Zamfara, Benue, Kaduna, Taraba, Nassarawa and recently Plateau have now become
a large killing field, making lives in these places to be nasty, brutish and
short.
“We are particularly disappointed
and gravely concerned that one of the components of the tripod upon which the
President rode to power in the 2015 general elections, which is the security of
lives and properties, has become so grossly and ineptly managed to the extent
that killer herdsmen, bandits and bloodthirsty invaders could go on a killing
spree in northern Nigeria, killing helpless Nigerians in the aforementioned
states with sophisticated weapons in broad daylight for more than 6 hours
without response from any of the security agencies in the country.
“We know that there are remote
causes to these killings in the region, but we also know that the primary role
of government at all levels is the security of lives and properties of all its
citizenry as enshrined in section 14 (2b) of the 1999 constitution as amended.
“A government that cannot fulfil
this fundamental constitutional obligation has no moral claim to political
power not to talk of seeking to remain therein.
“If our country’s security
architecture is federalized, then the President and commander in chief of the
armed forces must be held responsible for the death of any citizen from the
activities of purveyors of terror, evil and nihilism.
“On July 3rd, 2018, seven
policemen and one civilian were killed at a checkpoint in Galadimawa
Roundabout, off airport road, in the federal capital territory Abuja by men of
the underworld as they now have been known.
“We not only find these’ killings
discomfiting, but we are also upbeat by the fact that the Nigeria police under
this IGP that has very little regard for the President or the National
Assembly, have not told Nigerians in clear terms who these killers are but have
found it convenient to dispatch 30,000 police personnel to, Ekiti State for the
elections billed for Saturday 14 July 2018.
“We reckon that in fulfilment of
his obligation of the security of lives and properties across the federation,
the president needs the support and full corporation of all the state
governors, especially of those with whom he shares the same political party.
“Our stand: We demand that all
the service chiefs including the IGP be relieved of their duties with immediate
effect and replaced with competent hands that the president would actively
support to do their job toward ensuring that the sacredness and sanctity of
human lives are restored in our country.
“That the police must not only be
adequately equipped and trained on covert counter-terrorism techniques but that
the recent protest by some police officers in Borno state due to six months of
unpaid salary arrears constitutes a national embarrassment and must be resolved
within the next one week.
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