Prominent Nigerians condemn worsening insecurity, seek emergency on security
Says leadership silence, inactions, others fuelling killings
SOME elder statesmen have condemned rising insecurity in the countr y, saying the situation could overwhelm the Federal Government, unless urgent steps were taken to nip the menace in the bud.
They charged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on security in a bid to end the violence that is fast turning the country into what many consider a failing entity.
Besides, the eminent Nigerians, who backed Ohaneze Ndigbo’s position on review of appointment of service chiefs to reflect federal character principle, urged President Buhari to hearken to the call by inlcluding Ndigbo in the nation’s security arrangement for equity and fairness.
Speaking under the auspices of Conference of Nigeria Elders for Peace and National Unity ( CNEPNU), they could no longer keep silent when the country was at the brink of collapse, hence the need for goodspirited Nigerians to intervene and salvage the deteriorating security situation.
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by Zana Goni ( Northeast Elders for Peace and Development), Prof. Chika Madumere ( Coalition of South East Professionals Network) and Prof. Ganiyu Jakande, they said the current tension in the country could only be likened to the 1967- 1970 scenario . “The continued exclusion of the Igbo, being the third largest ethnic group in the country is against the spirit of not only the founding fathers of the country, but also the writers of Nigeria’s constitution who had made provision for the federal character principle in appointments,” the statement reads.
THE Y oruba Council of Elders ( YCE) has berated the Senate President, Dr . Ahmad Lawan, for accusing South- West governors and leaders as responsible for ethnic crisis and killings in the region.
But reacting to Lawan’s accusation in a telephone chat with The Guardian, yesterday, the Secretar y of YCE, Dr . Kunle Olajide, described his claim as untrue.
He said that on the contrary, it was the silence of the national leadership, including the President of the Senate, fuelling ethnic crisis.
“It is totally untrue. Ethnic crisis is being amplified by the relative silence of even the National Assembly and the Senate President himself and also the Presidency.
“What appears to be the insensitivity of the Federal Government to our plight that has been on now in the last four years in the SouthWest, that our people are being raped, slaughtered and our farms plundered and not a word or positive action from the Federal Government, including the Senate President, is the cause of the crisis.
“What we hear is platitudes or rhetoric from ministers or aides of the President. So , they are the one responsible for the brazen attitude of the criminals in the forests as none of them has been prosecuted. In fact, the negotiation for payment of ransom some people are advocating encourages abductions to make more money.
“The money they make, they use to buy more arms to keep terrorising people. So , it is the national leadership including the Senate President himself and the highest authority in the land, that are fuelling the crisis by silence and gross insensitivity,” he said.
Olajide, therefore, advocated the restructuring of the country to a true federation that would give the state governors power to enforce security in their states