North East elders under the aegis of Coalition of Northern East Elders for Peace and Development (CNEEPD) have denounced insinuations that they were paid to campaign for the sack of service chiefs over the country’s worsening security situation, saying their call was borne out of patriotism.
This is even as it accused Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) of being insensitive to the plight of thousands of people in the North East affected by banditry, terrorism and other security challenges.
CNEEPD’s National Coordinator, Zana Goni, in a statement,yesterday,said only anti-people and anti-progress individuals and groups would attack those calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve the service chiefs of their appointments even in the face of consistent violent attacks on citizens, particularly in Nigeria’s North East, North West and North Central.
HURIWA’s national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, had alleged that those “seeking the destruction of modern-day constitutional democracy in Nigeria are children and wards of these community elders who are now transferring their misdirected angst at the service chiefs.”
But Goni said CNEEPD would not have dignified HURIWA with a response, but for the need to educate undiscerning public of the matter.
“May we hasten to state that our consistent call on the President to sack the service chiefs has been borne out of patriotism and the need to restore public confidence. We remind the group that our position has continued to align with those of our respected senators, members of the House of Representatives, as well as other concerned Nigerians who are in the majority. “
While wondering why any sane group would oppose the call for the appointment of new military heads, CNEEPD queried if HURIWA understood what career progression meant in the military circle.
“We challenge Onwubiko and his followers to appear before officers,both serving and retired, whose carrier growth have been affected by the continuous stay of the service chiefs to make that argument. As respected elders concerned about the fact that our farmers can hardly access their farms, while the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) continues to grow, we will not buckle in our call for a new order in the security sector,” Goni said.
