The Coalition for
Nigeria Movement led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo has lambasted
President Muhammadu Buhari for campaigning in different parts of the country
despite the killings in the North-Central particularly in Benue State.
The spokesman for the
CNM, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, said in a statement on Sunday that Buhari’s visit to
Bauchi State to campaign less than 24 hours after several persons were
slaughtered in Benue State was the height of insensitivity.
In the statement
titled, ‘Fiddling while Nigeria is burning,’ the CNM urged the President to put
the security of Nigerians’ ahead of his political ambition.
The statement read in
part, “Mid last week, the regime of massacres in Benue State attained another
height in the invasion of a church where two Catholic priests and indeterminate
number of the congregation were butchered.
“This tragedy was
casually reinforced by the decision of President Buhari to proceed on a
campaign tour to Bauchi in careless and insensitive disregard of the
intensifying Benue calamity. This peculiar attitude has become all too familiar
and characteristic of President Buhari.
“Something of the
unfolding national calamity can still be salvaged in the unlikely event that
the President sees fit to mend his ways going forward. Were the President to
continue to prioritise his re-election bid over the security and well-being of
Nigerians, he would be putting the corporate existence of the country at risk.”
The coalition also
hailed the United States’ Department of State for its report last week which
accused the Buhari administration of failing to effectively tackle corruption
and human rights abuses.
The CNM said the failed
attempt to recall Senator Dino Melaye of Kogi-West despite his ‘unjust arrest’
was evidence that Buhari was running a government similar to totalitarian
former President François Duvalier of Haiti.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian
Intervention Movement has advised Buhari to immediately sack the service chiefs
and change the entire security architecture of the country.
The NIM said this in a
statement signed by its two Co-chairmen, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba and Dr. Abdujalil
Tafawa-Balewa.
The movement said the
next set of persons that should be appointed must reflect the heterogeneous
nature of the country.
The group said the
spate of killings in the Middle Belt – especially in Benue State – was
disturbing and urgent steps need to be taken.
It, therefore, made 10
recommendations some of which include the implementation of the 2014 National
Conference especially the area that had to do with state policing.
The statement added,
“Change the leadership of Nigeria’s entire security and intelligence
infrastructure as they have failed in coming up with strategies for dealing
with the situation. However, in appointing the new leadership, the government
should be sensitive to the heterogeneous nature and diversity of Nigeria
particularly our ethnic, religious and regional peculiarities and reflect same
in the new appointments to engender the lost confidence and trust of Nigerians
“Redeploy police
officers from the rank of commissioners to constables to their states of origin
as an interim measure to douse the suspicion of collusion with herdsmen
militia.”
The NIM also advised
the President to closely monitor the activities of established herdsmen groups
like the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.
It asked the President
to meet religious leaders with a view to calming frayed nerves.
Copyright PUNCH.
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