A northern group under the auspices of Arewa Youth Coalition for Peace, (AYCP) has issued 12 weeks ultimatum to President Muhammadu Buhari to end all killings or he will face mass protest from the youths.
The Chairman of the Coalition, Mukhtar Muhammed, in a news conference in Kaduna on Thursday, said the killings have severe economic implication on the livelihoods of the Nigerians, particularly northerners who are predominantly farmers.
“For us as an NGO, one of our cardinal responsibilities is to promote peaceful coexistence in the region.
Mukhtar said security of lives and property is the primary responsibility of every government, saying, any government that cannot fulfill this fundamental constitutional obligation has no moral claim to political power not to talk of seeking to remain therein.
“Fellow Nigerians, this press conference has become absolutely incumbent upon us as patriots of our great country in view of the wanton killings in Nigeria, particularly the northern region.
“Suffice, it to say that parts of Zamfara, Benue, Kaduna, Taraba, Nassarawa and recently Plateau have now become a large killing field, making lived in these places to be, nasty, brutish and short.
“We are particularly disappointed and gravely concerned that one of the components of the tripod upon which the President rode to power in the 2015 general elections, which is the security of lives and properties, have become so grossly and ineptly managed to the extent that killer herdsmen, bandits and blood thirsty invaders could go on a killing spree in northern Nigeria, killing helpless Nigerians in the aforementioned states with sophisticated weapons in broad day light for more than 6 hours without response from any of the security agencies in the country.
“We know that there are remote causes to these killings in the region, but we also know that the primary role of government at all levels is the security of lives and properties of all its citizenry as enshrined in section 14 (2b) of the 1999 constitution as amended.
“A government that cannot fulfil this fundamental constitutional obligation has no moral claim to political power not to talk of seeking to remain therein”, he said.
According to the group, “If our country’s security architecture is federalized, then the President and commander in chief of the armed forces must be held responsible for the death of any citizen from the activities of purveyors of terror, evil and nihilism.
“On July 3rd, 2018, seven policemen and one civilian were killed at a checkpoint in Galadimawa Roundabout, off airport road, in the federal capital territory Abuja by men of the underworld as they now have been known.
“We not only find these’ killings discomfiting, but we are also upbeat by the fact that the Nigerian police under this IGP that has very little regard for the President or the National Assembly, have not told Nigerians in clear terms who these killers are but have found it convenient to dispatch 30,000 police personnel for the Ekiti State for the elections billed for Saturday 14 July 2018.
“We reckon that in fulfilment of his obligation of the security of lives and properties across the federation, the president needs the support and full corporation of all the state governors, especially of those with whom he shares the same political party.
“Our stand: We demand that all the service chiefs including the IGP be relieved of their duties with immediate effect and replaced with competent hands that the president would actively support to do their job toward ensuring that the sacredness and sanctity of human life are restored in our country.
“That the police must not only be adequately equipped and trained on covert counter-terrorism techniques but that the recent protest by some police officers in Borno state due to six months of unpaid salary arrears constitutes a national embarrassment and must be resolved within the next one week.
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