BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to practise his words on justice, fairness and equity in accordance with his address at the United Nations last Friday.
Buhari, while calling for the reform of the UN, said, “Without justice, the legitimacy of our organisation is called to question.”
He called for dialogue between Israel and Palestine, decrying the ongoing skirmish between the two countries.
Afenifere, however, faulted the claim by Buhari that his administration was committed to the respect of human rights.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, the group said that ethnic nationalities and other concerned stakeholders in Nigeria had been calling for dialogue to resolve Nigeria issues for long but Buhari’s administration ignored and hounded those calling for dialogue.
“It is interesting, perhaps comforting that the Nigerian authority realises that dialogue is the way to go in resolving knotty issues. It is, however, hypocrisy of the highest order for this same authority to be prescribing this to foreign authorities while describing those calling for the same thing at home as ‘hate speech makers’ and separatists,” the statement read.
According to it, the reform being advocated by Buhari for the United Nations is in tandem with the call for dialogue in Nigeria.
“Why and how our President considered reform and dialogue as necessary at the global level but considered same as anathema in Nigeria beats one’s imagination. It is called reform at the global level and restructuring at home,” it stated.
On internal security, Afenifere’s statement read that the reality on ground belied the president’s claim. Contrary to reality, it alleged that the president left the impression that terrorists had more or less surrendered to the Army in the country.
“We, as Afenifere, commend the heroic efforts of the Nigerian Army, but it is a fact that activities of terrorists appear to be more expanding rather than receding going by the submission of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, that over 330,000 Nigerian refugees are languishing in neighbouring countries due to insurgency and armed banditry in the North East and North West as well as Kaduna State Governor El Rufai that advocated for the military to be decentralised.
“The level of insecurity in the country has gotten so bad that the authority of the National Youth Service Corps advised youth corpers to always let their people prepare ransom to be paid in case they are kidnapped in the course of traveling from one point to another while in service,” it concluded.
