The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to show more seriousness in fighting the security challenges bedeviling the country.
According to the forum, Nigeria has come under the siege of bandits and terrorists while the Buhari government is ineffective in tackling the dangers.
The ACF, led by a former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, said Nigerians would justifiably conclude that the Buhari administration needs to do more to quell the crises.
In a statement by its Secretary-General, Murtala Aliyu, ACF said: “Over the past few months, the security crises we face in Nigeria has been deepening and there is a dangerous escalation of violence and bloodshed. Criminal gangs, heavily armed bandits, armed robbers, secessionist insurgents along with those that call themselves soldiers of the so-called Caliphate, have laid siege to Nigeria; more so in the northern states.
“The highly coordinated attack on the Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital, Abuja, on July 5, 2022, and the mass escape of hardened criminals, many of whom are Boko Haram terrorists, has triggered an unprecedented wave of apprehension and panic among the long-suffering people, particularly of the North.
“Coming around the time the advance convoy of Mr. President heading to Daura and long after the deadly attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28, 2022, in which many people were killed and a lot more kidnapped, the question on the lips of the public is: how and where will these crises, which are unprecedented in severity, leave us?
“We noted that the response of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Kuje Prison tragedy, in particular, was to offer the familiar cocktail of platitudes, sermons, condemnations, and yet more sermons. As usual, the President asked the security services to ‘investigate’ the outbreak and find out what led to it. Presumably, in the view of the President, that was all that he was expected or required to do in the circumstances.
“Although we count ourselves amongst his ardent supporters and have always wished him well, Nigeria’s rapid descent into strife, violence, and lawlessness is getting to a point at which we can no longer afford to tell him only he wants to hear. We do need to tell the President what he also needs to hear.”
