68 CSOs Ask Buhari to Tackle Insecurity or Resign

A coalition of 68 civil society organisations (CSOs) has declared that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians in its primary duty of ensuring the security and welfare of citizens.

In a joint statement released yesterday, the CSOs said Nigeria is in dire straits as a result of criminal attacks and extra-judicial killings by state actors and called on Buhari to tackle the security challenges or resign.

They said the federal government, through the Minister of Defence, has “callously abdicated its responsibility and called Nigerian citizens ‘cowards’ and urged Nigerians to defend themselves.”

The group said kidnapping for ransom has assumed “an industrial and deadly scale never witnessed on the African continent” and that children are no longer safe in schools while communities are now “pauperised by terrorists who extort huge ransoms while murdering their hostages”.

They also condemned the government’s “gross injustices” where peaceful protesters are threatened and attacked by security agencies while “criminal elements who murder, rape and kidnap Nigerians are granted amnesty and taxpayers’ money is used to pay terrorists.

The coalition, therefore, asked the federal government to provide political and moral leadership for the security crisis and ensure governmental actions are humane in tandem with Section 17 (2) ( C ) of the Constitution.

“The Nigeria Police Council established by section 153 of the Constitution is constituted by the President, IG, Chairman of Police Service Commission and the 36 state governors. The NPC should be called to meet regularly to address the crisis of insecurity.