Killings: Rejig Security Apparatus, NLC Tells FG

Killings: Rejig Security Apparatus, NLC Tells FG

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it was horrified by the escalating insecurity in different parts of the country, noting that the current security system was not working and should be rejigged.It noted the public execution of five staff of Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Action Against Hunger, Rich International, and International Rescue Committee by Boko Haram in Borno State last week.

Expressing the union’s angst over the insecurity in the country, the NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said the only crime of the deceased was their selfless devotion to alleviating the lot of the hapless civilian population in the North-east.

The statement was titled, ‘Stop the rivers of blood: NLC condemns the cruel killings cum violence across the country.’

It observed that in the past seven months, the Boko Haram insurgency and other violence in the country had widened in scope, adding that many intercity and feeder roads in the North-east had been completely abandoned to the terrorists, thereby exacerbating the already precarious humanitarian situation in the region.

It stated, “We call on the federal government to quickly rejig our security apparatus and the security systems it has deployed to fight terrorism and violent crimes. Certainly, the current system is not working.

“Government must do whatever it takes under the powers bestowed on it to break once and for all the spine of terrorism and violent crimes in our country. We cannot afford to slide into a state of anarchy which is the wish of those who have picked up arms against the state and innocent civilians including workers.”

Owing to renewed attacks in northern Borno, Wabba observed that people in about 13 local government areas in Borno State had been displaced and now live in Internally Displaced Persons camps.

According to him, the people in Mongono; Marte; Kukawa; Abbadam; Guzarualla; parts of Gubio; parts of Magumeri and Nganzai LGAs, parts of Benishek and Konduga, Kalabalge, Dikwa and Ngala LGAs are currently living in IDPs camps.

The union further said, “In Southern Borno State and parts of Adamawa State, renewed attacks have led to the complete sacking of the following towns and villages with no single inhabitant is there now: Dagu, Huyum, Killekassa, Kopa-maikadiri, Yaffa, Ngurthlaru, Kwabula, Kuburmbula, Kaya, Guryangwal, Shawa, Gogomdi, Gwandang, Gatamarwa, Imirmulza, Thilemakalama, Yaza, Kirchinga, and Mimirsa.”

The NLC also highlighted the bloodletting and dislocation in Southern Kaduna, adding that kidnapping, cattle rustling, and banditry were the order of the day in northern Kaduna, most parts of Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, and Plateau States and other parts of North Central.

“The government certainly needs to do more to convince Nigerians that it is capable of living up to its promises to safeguard the lives of Nigerians and their property,” it stressed.

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