Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the aegis of APC Consolidation Group (APCG) have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve the service chiefs of their positions, stressing that their inability to contain the widespread killings, banditry and kidnappings, might cost the party all seats in the 2023 general elections.
This is a former heads of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar have been called out over worsening insecurity in the northern region.
Mallam Shehu Sani, erstwhile senator who represented Kaduna Central, said the duo must convene a summit to provide an enduring solution to banditry, kidnapping and Boko Haram activities in the region.
He said the wanton killings in southern Kaduna should not be mistaken for mere crisis between Christians and Muslims, noting that it was purely a terrorists activities.
Sen. Sani, who spoke to journalists in Jos, Plateau State, said President Muhammadu Buhari should invite leaders of southern Kaduna to get a first hand information about what was going on in the area. He claimed that as long as President Buhari continues to receive briefing from Governor Mallam Nasir el-Rufai without hearing from the affected communities, he might not have accurate knowledge of the security challenges in southern Kaduna.
“There is need for leaders like Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar to convene a northern conference to bring all political, community, religious leaders and traditional rulers to join hands with the likes of Aliyu Gusau to address religious, security and ethnic issues in the North. The conference should come up with a template of what the north intend to achieve in the next 10- 20 years to transform the region into a better place,” he said.
He said Gowon, Abdulsalam and few others have gained the confidence of Nigerians and northerners based on their critical roles in fostering peace and unity in the country.
He also cautioned religious leaders to stop inciting their followers, but instead preach peace and unity for the prosperity of Nigeria nation.
Meanwhile, APCG’s National Coordinator, Dr. Usman Mohammed, in a statement, yesterday, claimed the security situation in the north has adversely affected food sufficiency and portrayed Buhari in bad light.
He implored the president to heed the voice of majority, saying: “We are very disturbed over the president’s continued refusal to sack the service chiefs despite call by most Nigeria’s in the midst of the disturbing insecurity in the land including the home town of our president. No part of Nigeria is safe today.
“What is so special about these service chiefs that the president can’t get in other officers? The president and all of us suffer so hard to sell APC to Nigeria’s in the 2015 general election and our campaign promises were hinged on security anti-corruption, economic and agriculture. Today, we in the APC states, are the worst hit by insecurity. Our farmers can’t go to the farm, nomads can’t rear their cattle anymore, no village is safe in the entire north and other parts of the country. How can we guarantee food security next year? While we are aware that Mr. President gets daily briefing on the security situation in the country, most of those reports they are giving him are not true reflection of the situation on ground. Most of the reports he get are staged managed. People are very angry with our government because of insecurity and we must rise up to speak the truth at this time before it’s too late.
“Already, there is low morale in the military over the continued stay of the service chiefs whose tenures have since lapsed…We appeal to the president to hearken to the call by majority of Nigerians, as reflected in the country’s parliament recently, that it is time for him to do the needful.”
He, however, hailed the security chiefs for reducing the perennial bombings witnessed before the 2015 general polls in the region and the reforms in the armed forces.
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