The Arewa Online Publishers’ Forum, AOPF, has condemned in the strongest term the spate of insecurity in the North and the nation at large with hundreds of law-abiding citizens daily being killed with reckless abandon by what the forum described, “an untrained ragtag army of hoodlums”.
The forum also condemned the attitude being shown by the Federal Government for watching helplessly the killings of its citizens.
“What is more worrisome is the fact that our young Nigerian Army officers and soldiers are also not spared,” Mr Mordecai Sunday Ibrahim, National Chairman of the forum stated in a statement.
The statement added, “It is regrettable to observe that although the provision of Section 14 (b) of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria which deals with the purpose for the existence of every government; which reads inter alia.
“The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government,” it is becoming clear that the Federal Government is either overwhelmed or has totally lost track of what to do to address insecurity in the nation.
The statement regretted, “It is highly inexcusable and annoying that an army of hoodlums without any formal military training could assemble themselves, accumulate modern arms and ammunition and possess the effrontery to lay siege, attack and kill defenceless citizens and our fine officers and men running into double digits on weekly basis.
“That this ragtag army of hoodlums could be allowed into our national territory in the midst of many paramilitary and intelligence gathering security organizations such as Customs, Immigration, SSS, DMI, NIA, CIB and others is unacceptable.”
It noted that it is a clear and unarguable a sign of failure on the part of President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Major General and former Head of State, who has the constitutional powers and commands the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as the Inspector General of Police, given the fact that national security is in the exclusive list.
“It is unimaginable to watch these hoodlums brandishing highly sophisticated and controlled weapons like AK47, General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG), armoured cars, hand grenades, Rocket propeller launchers, among others,” the forum wandered.
The forum asked, “Who supplied these insurgents and kidnappers these weapons that are not commonly sold in the market? If they bought them, who is funding them, where they buy them from, who issued them license to import and how did such weapons find their ways into the country with Customs, Immigration, Police and other security personnel at our borders?”
The forum noted that the continued killings of defenceless citizens is not because the country’s officers and men are incapable of handling the situation, but observed that the fighting spirit of the officers and soldiers in the front has been badly battered.
“The law of diminishing return has since set in and is negatively affecting the top echelon of our military – the service chiefs. The aura of the State Power has seriously diminished, as the hoodlums ravaging our nation are no longer afraid to carry out their evil enterprise.
“This is because of expired ideas being daily churned out and deliberate loss of interest on the upcoming and middle cadre officers waiting to take over from the present top echelon of the military.
Many of the upcoming and middle cadre officers’ morale have been grossly depleted, as their future is being eaten into by the continuous retention of the current service chiefs who ought to have since retired both by age retirement and by years of service,” the statement explained.
Arewa Online Publishers’ Forum called on President Muhammadu Buhari to live up to the expectations of Nigerians and his campaign promise to protect all Nigerians regardless of ethno-religious and political affiliations.
