Representatives of over 200 youth ethnic nationality and self-determination groups from across Nigeria and in the Diaspora at the weekend in Lagos said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is incompetent and hamstrung in tackling headlong the widespread killings and violence in some parts of the country.
Rising from their two-day meeting in Lagos, where they discussed the rising spate of killings across the country, the groups said that President Buhari, as the country’s chief security officer, had failed having “proved to be ill-prepared and incompetent to bring the situation under control.”
The groups, in a communique issued at the end of their meeting and jointly signed by the Convener, who is also the President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Mallam Shettima Usman Yerima; National President, Ohanaeze Youth Council, Mazi Okechukwu Iziogosoro; Eric Olawale (Yoruba Youth Council); and President, Ijaw Youth Council, who also doubles as President, Ethnic Nationalities of Niger Delta, Barrister Pereotubo R. Oweilaemi, on behalf of the over 200 youth ethnic nationality groups across Nigeria and in the Diaspora, stated that it had become clear that the Buhari government had failed in the discharge of its primary responsibility of securing citizens’ lives and property.
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The ethnic nationality and self-determination groups noted that the current dangerous situation in the country, which had placed the younger generation of Nigerians at the receiving end of the ongoing violence was no longer unacceptable and must, therefore, be halted urgently.
They also warned that Nigeria, Africa and the global community might not be able to cope with the consequences of a full blown religious or ethnic war in Nigeria, a dangerous development posed by the current spate of killings and violence.
They added that the current insecurity posed the immediate danger of scuttling the nation’s democratic order with the dire consequences of a drift into a state of anarchy.
The groups, therefore, urged Nigerian elders, leaders of thought, theological and cultural leaders and the international community to step in quickly to save the situation from degenerating further, warning that delay could be dangerous.
The ethnic nationality and self-determination groups, however, issued a two-week ultimatum to all the stakeholders in the Nigeria project to act decisively to avoid the consequential backlash of overstretching the patience of the citizens.
The communique partly read, “We pronounce 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.
“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.
“Finally, we 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.”
The groups also stated that the meeting became necessary in view of the scary figures quoted by various national and international bodies accounting for the lives lost to series of violent situations in the country in the last few years.
They also observed that while the insurgency by the 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 acquired religious overtones, in addition to a new generation of Niger Delta militants and Biafran agitators threatening war against the state.”
The groups also deplored the rate at which government soldiers had been killing civilians indiscriminately, “the Police growing more notorious for extrajudicial murder in addition to an escalating trend by which innocent travelers and ordinary passersby are waylaid and killed by armed ethnic militias on public highways.
They added that these attacks and killings had already got out of hand, “occurring with such frequency and sophisticated organisation that their characterisation as ‘clashes’ no longer suffices.”
The groups further said, “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 occult 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.”
Quote: 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
