- Calls for Aregbesola, security chiefs’ sack
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Nigerian civil society coalition, the Situation Room, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently take decisive measures to arrest the deteriorating insecurity in the country or consider quitting the office.
The organisation demanded that the entire security architecture of the country should be rejigged by the president to combat the worrisome expansion of insecurity in the country, adding that the service chiefs should be removed, while new people should be appointed with a clear mandate to deliver at a particular time or be equally sacked.
It said that the security situation has taken a new dimension with the threat of attacks on the high office of the president and schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) , Abuja.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja Tuesday, the Convener of the Situation Room, Ene Obi, said that it is apparent that insecurity has lingered because there has been no seriousness in tasking the security agencies to deliver and the political will do so.
“President Muhammadu Buhari should wake up to his responsibilities of steering the affairs of the nation in the areas of security and economic restoration which will rebuild the confidence of citizens by reassuring Nigerians of his ability to govern Nigeria or should honourably resign if the challenges are overwhelming,” she said.
On the last jailbreak at Kuje Medium Security Correctional Facility, she said that Nigerians expected Buhari to order a thorough investigation into the incident and relieve those responsible for guarding the prison of their duties, starting with the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.
Obi also urged the National Assembly to intensify their oversight function on the Executive beyond threats of impeachment of the president.
Obi, who was flanked by other co-conveners of the Situation Room, James Ugochukwu and Asma’u Joda, said the state of insecurity in the country has “deteriorated so much that most parts of the country are now being threatened by non-state armed men with various nomenclature like bandits, Boko Haram, Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), kidnappers and unknown gunmen”.
“According to reports, ISWAP and Boko Haram insurgents having occupied some territories in the North-east of the country are now encroaching into Abuja and the rest of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Bandits’ continuous raid on villages fuelled with kidnapping of helpless villagers in the North-west states of Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi, have continued unchallenged.
“The abduction of road users on the Abuja-Kaduna highway has been a major concern, bearing in mind that some of the March 2022 passengers of the Abuja-Kaduna bound train are still in captivity,” she said.
The Situation Room also expressed displeasure at the long closure of public universities.
Obi said the organisation found it disappointing that despite the two-week ultimatum given to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, by President Buhari to resolve the prolonged strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the government has failed to reach a resolution.
She further assessed the continuous voter registration (CVR), saying that despite the Independent National Electoral Commission’s assurances of a seamless process, it has left many willing Nigerians disenfranchised from the 2023 polls.
