Insecurity In S’ West, Other Parts Of Nigeria:Where Is The Commander-In-Chief? Afenifere Asks
The pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has expressed serious worries and consternation on the level of insecurity in Nigeria and wondered if President Muhammadu Buhari is aware of the situation at all.
In a press statement by the organization’s national publicity secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi on Monday, Afenifere stated that the rate at which insecurity is festering, it was as though there is no authority who could reign-in the monster.
He was quick to add that according to the country’s constitution, the sitting president, retired General Muhammadu Buhari, is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, as such the person on whose shoulder the security and welfare of Nigerians squarely lie on. “Unfortunately, we have not seen veritable indications that the C-in-C is aware of the enormity of the situation or is putting up any strategy to arrest it.”Recalling President Buhari’s speech during this year’s Democracy Day celebration where he (Buhari) confessed that “I am living daily with the grief and worry for all those victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping,” Afenifere spokesman submitted that the business of Nigerian president is not to ‘grieve’ for victims of terrorism but to ensure that terrorism, kidnapping and allied crimes do not occur at all in the country. It would be recalled that within two weeks, there have been about three kidnappings in Ogbomoso in Oyo State leading to the death of some victims, beheading of five people in the South East, abduction of people in Katsina, Kaduna, Nassarawa and Niger, killing and abduction of about 15 people including Indian expatriates in Kogi State and abductions of some chiefs in Akoko area of Ondo State etc all within days. These are in addition to several of such dastardly acts that have been happening in different parts of the country with increasing ferocity. Ajayi also alluded to the report from Ondo State where the Amotekun corps intercepted two trucks carrying 151 young men and women.
“Ordinarily, there is nothing wrong in people moving from one part of the country to the other. But if those people were not on a satanic mission, why would they hid under bags of rice and beans? Why would they not be able to state their mission and actual destinations? They claim to have been raked from Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States to come to the South West for a mission or missions that they were not told. Afenifere commends the efforts of Ondo state government and Amotekun officers for the gallant work they are doing.”
Ajayi regretted that because of the kid-glove manner with which government is dealing with them, terrorists and kidnappers have been so emboldened that they now attack security institutions at will and malevolently go into houses of their victims to deal with fellow Nigerians – all under the watch of government and security agencies!Instances that can be cited in this respect included the following:Reports have it that bandits on the night of Sunday, August 7, attacked and killed three persons while scores were reportedly abducted by the attackers in Bali town, headquarters of Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State. The bandits began to raid people from house to house after overpowering the security personnel at the checkpoint. Just last Friday, four police officers were killed when gunmen attacked Agwa Divisional Police Headquarters in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria’s South-east.Frist son of Kebbi state’s Senator Na’Allah, Captain AbdulKarim Bala Na’Allah, was killed in his own room in Malali, Kaduna late last week.While conceding that the government and security agencies had been ‘doing one thing or the other’ on insecurity, Ajayi said that expected result has not come because of unco-ordinated strategies among others.
Specifically, Afenifere faults the idea of re-integrating confirmed terrorists and bandits “as evidence had shown that such seemingly reintegrated bandits go ahead to commit crimes that are more heinous than the ones they were known for beforehand”.
While also recalling Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, saying that President Buhari condemned the beheading of five people in the South East at the weekend as well as the President’s call on those who know the culprits to name them, Ajayi said that “what Nigerians expect from the government is not sympathy but actions. Actions that will put a total end to the nightmare, indeed life-terminating experiences they are going through presently!”
He reinstated the much-vaunted position of Afenifere on the need to allow State Police and to properly take care of our security agencies generally.
“Equally important, President Muhammadu Buhari needs to come out and let perpetrators of terrorism and kidnapping know that he has had enough. He should let them realize that the pact he signed with Nigerians was not to come and see to the serial termination of their lives but to ensure their security, improve their welfare and move the nation to a desirable next level. Unfortunately, the president has not been able to deliver on any of the desirables. He only brought to the nation, the negatives which were far from the expectation of anybody.”
Jare Ajayi concluded by calling on the president to demonstrate that he is still there as the Commander in Chief. Alternatively, he can delegate all the necessary authority to his Vice with whom he shared a joint ticket anyway – “especially given his earlier declaration that he was anxious for May 29, 2023 to come quickly”.
