Shocked by the rising cases of insecurity in the country, the Coalition of Nigerian Elders for Peace and Good Governance (CONEPAGG) have urged President Buhari to seek foreign intervention to bring the carnage to a halt.
The elders said their call was necessitated by the massacre of Borno rice farmers who were slaughtered in numbers by Boko Haram elements while harvesting their farmlands in Zabarmari, a suburb of Maiduguri town.
They appealed to the President being the commander in chief to save Nigeria from further massacre by men underworld suggesting not only firing the service chiefs but also reorganizing the security architecture in the country.
They reminded the president that as the leader of a nation, his first duty is the protection of the lives and properties of his subjects. They appealed to the United Nations Security Council to wade into the Nigerian deteriorating state and save the country from falling apart, saying this could be achieved through sanctioning the weapon industry that refuses to sell weapons to a sovereign state.
They stated their position in a statement signed by, Engr. Zanna Goni, National Coordinator, Prof. Adebola Adeboye, Coordinator for South-West zone, Dr. Ugwuanyi Emeka, Coordinator for South East, Sheikh Ibrahim Mohammed, Coordinator North West, Barrister Peter Shima, Coordinator North Central; Hajiya Zainab Bulama, Coordinator North East; and Dr Solomon Dogogo, Coordinator South-South, respectively.
The statement reads, “As concern Nigerians with love for our dear country, we had to urgently summon this emergency meeting to appraise the current security situation and proffer possible solutions.
“Today, December 1, 2020, we are here in Abuja to appraise the security situation in the country, particularly in the North and make some necessary and urgent demands on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, United Nations Security Council, and the Nigeria National Assembly,”
Describing the carnage by Boko Haram insurgents as barbaric, the elders condemned the pogrom in strong terms.
They said, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms ever the barbaric, senseless, and gruesome killing of over 43 Nigeria farmers in Borno State”, said, adding:” Our hearts are with the families and people of Borno State.”
The elders also condemned the statement accredited to, Garba Shehu, the presidential spokesman for blaming the dead after they lost their lives, calling on President Buhari to sack him for being reckless.
They explained, “We also described as unfortunate, the senseless, irresponsible and insensitive statement credited to Mallam Garba Shehu, the spokesman of the president who made a statement suggesting that the innocent farmers died out of their carelessness.
” Nothing can be more callous and insensitive as this statement at a time the whole country is mourning. We demand his immediate sack by Mr. President to serve as a deterrent to people who always put his government in a bad light,” the statement reads.
“The insecurity in Nigeria, particularly in the North, has taken an alarming and dangerous dimension and we strongly believe that now is the time to act swiftly or we will have ourselves to blame.”
According to the elders, Food security is already threatened, inflation and recession are already pushing us to the roof saying, If nothing is done within these few days, we may forget about Nigeria as a country.
They stated their demands as follows; ”Our demand as Nigerians with repute and equal stake like other well-meaning Nigerians in the country from the executive are: Immediate sack of the current service chiefs and replace them with younger generals with federal character coloration that have the zeal and commitment to change the game on insecurity immediately.”
Another demand they said was a commitment by the federal government to prioritise security funding through directing federal Ministry of finance to release all funds mend for security as timely as possible.
They lament, “Our police stations don’t even have fuel in their vehicles to respond to threats, allowances of troops in the North West and North East and Niger Delta have not been paid for months,” they claimed, asking: “How can we be that insensitive to the people on the front line? How can our security be active with an empty stomach and low motivation?”
The elders also demanded Mr President as a matter of urgency to mobilize for town hall meeting where all meaning Nigerians will be involved in the building of Nigerian project.
Meanwhile, they demand from the legislative arm as, “Our demand for the Legislative Arm is one: Stop every deliberation on the 2021 budget until Mr. President sacks the service chiefs and restructure the entire security architecture in accordance with the resolutions of the two chambers of the National Assembly to that effect. The action of the president is ignoring the resolutions is no doubt, an affront on the legislature,” they said.
