Northern elders have expressed disappointment in the New Year message of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the inability of the president to yield to the desire of Nigerians by announcing the sack of security chiefs over worsening security problems in the country, was disappointing.
In a statement signed by its national coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni, and made available to Blueprint in Abuja Monday, the Northern elders, operating under the auspices of Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development, reiterated their earlier position that the security chiefs were not indispensable; hence the need for their replacement.
The Northern East elders noted that the continued retention of the service chiefs, many years after expiration of their retirement dates in service, was not only unconstitutional but that it had also weakened the morale of military personnel and the front line troops.
Noting also that the continued stay of the security chiefs was not adding value to the nation’s security management team, the elders regretted that the rising wave of insecurity in the North was being downplayed by the media.
The statement reads: “Many people are dying daily in the North as a result of banditry and insurgency, but the situation is being underreported.
“We listened to the New Year speech of Mr President to Nigerians with rapt attention, believing that he was going to give us a New Year gift in new service chiefs, but the president, to our disappointment, was silent on this key issue on the lips of Nigerians.
“At the moment, the most important thing to every Nigerian is security. They want their lives to be protected first. The National Assembly has since understood this and that is why as representatives of the people, they have since been calling for a more robust,efficient and effective security management for the country.
” The recognised that this cannot be achieved without emplacing a complete new security architecture in place. That is why the two chambers of the legislature came up with resolutions seeking replacement of service chiefs, but after many months of this genuine and patriotic call by the people’s representatives, President Buhari is yet to accede to their request. This is unfair to Nigerians whose lives are being cut down on daily basis.”
The elders added: “We still stand by the position of the National Assembly where members unanimously resolved that you relieve the security chiefs of their positions to pave way for not only fresh hands but also fresh ideas in our security management strategies.
“Sacking the current chiefs and subsequently replacing them with new ones will automatically change the game of insecurity as the morale of fighting officers will be boosted, new strategies will be launched besides the flow of intelligence information among the security agencies.
“We reiterate that President Muhammed Buhari, as a matter of urgent national importance, sack the current crop of service chiefs over the state of insecurity in our country. Their sack will no doubt be in our national interest, given that they seem to be now bereft of ideas on how to contend with the security problems bedeviling our dear country.”
Furthermore, the elders said: “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 a true reflection of the situation on ground. Most of the reports you get are staged managed. People are very angry with our government just 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 in their various offices have since lapsed.
“Who knows if there are unseen hands out there in the service frustrating the fight against insurgency and insecurity in the country deliberately due to the continued stay of the service chiefs? This is why we appeal to the president to hearken to the call by majority of Nigerians as reflected in the country’s parliament recently that it’s time for him to do the needful.
“We are in a constitutional democracy where any decision of government or leaders is taken from popular view”,the group said “majority of Nigerians have since spoken in this regard and even through their representatives in the legislature” they added that,”as a democrat, our president should listen to the voice of the majority for the betterment of Nigeria.”
