The Nigerian Civil Rights Movement (NCRM) has cried out to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to wade into the abduction of eleven youths corps members in Sokoto state.
NCRM legal advisor, Ismail Edejo Esq of Equity Chambers in a petition to President Tinubu, also called for the intervention of the House of Representatives.
The group demanded the immediate release of the corp members within seven days or face mass protests across the nation.
The affected corp members were abducted by unknown gunmen on their way to report to their place of deployment in Sokoto state.
The group in the petition accused the Director General of NYSC Brig Gen Yu’shau Ahmed and his management of complicity and gloss negligence leading to the repeated tragic kidnap of (11) NYSC corp members in Sokoto state.
The petition further urged the President to investigate the allegations against Brig Gen Yu’shau and his cabal of directors who have turned the scheme to a mafia organisation enriching themselves while ignoring or rather sabotaging security of lives of Corp members “
Describing the Director General as insensitive and corrupt, the group wondered why the management and the Director General hires chattered planes on a daily basis to traverse the country in the name of visiting NYSC camps, he has deliberately left the lives and security of Corp Members porous further raising the suspicion of complicity by Brig Gen Yu’shau and his management in the incessant incidents kidnap of Corp members for personal enrichment.
“Mr President, it is on record that under Brig Gen Yu’shau Ahmed, more Corp members have ended up in the hands of kidnappers and bandits more than any other Director General of the scheme in recent times.
“Nigerians are at loss as to why innocent graduates who are on compulsory national service to their fatherland would be exposed to such risks while the DG and his management travels with armed military personnel across the country using resources meant to protect and care for the welfare of Corp Members.
“This is abuse of privilege and a mockery of the citizens and must not be allowed to continue under your leadership as president”
“NYSC is a critical agency of government and Mr President must not inherit liabilities from the previous administration. it is time to act now in the interest of the scheme, the nation and to protect the image of Mr President.
“Mr President must look for capable and competent hands who will prioritise the interest of the people beyond personal greed.
“It is our belief that adequate security arrangements ought to be in place for each and every batch of Corp members deployed especially to high risk areas.
“Mr President, the kidnap of (11) Corp members by bandits in Sokoto is a deliberate and direct consequence of negligence on the part of the scheme’s management and there should be consequences.”
The petition further informed Mr President to investigate the previous reported cases of kidnap of Corp members and how they were released insisting that top management directors have turned the unfortunate reoccurrence of kidnap incidents into a money making venture.
“Each time a Corp member is kidnapped, wether reported or not, the management coughs out huge sums of money in the name of facilitating their release, all this is handled in secrecy.
“Accordingly, we demand a presidential directive on the investigation of the sources of previous ransoms paid for the release of Corp Members , the mode of payment and the actual figures of ransom involved with the past kidnap incidents so that Nigerians would know if the allegations of complicity by Brig Gen Yu’shau and his management in some of these sad incidents is true or false.
“Innocent Nigerians who are serving the country can not be turned into blood money factories by a few corrupt people heading the scheme.
“Mr President, this presidential investigation would open a can of worms and deep rot eating up the fabric of the scheme and it must not be allowed to continue under your leadership,” the group said.
The petition also decried the poor allowances of Corp members in the face of excruciating hardship in the country and wondered why the scheme would further expose the already demoralised Corp Members to such unprecedented levels of security risks at this material time “
This is the most tragic incident in the history of the scheme were (11) Corp members would be kidnapped by bandits in one fell swoop without any resistance from security agencies “
“To think that the DG is a so called senior military officer is a slap on the faces of Nigerians , a mockery of the military and a total deviation from the ideals of the founding fathers of the scheme” this must be corrected effective immediately.
“Mr President must come to terms with reality and sack the Director General as well order an investigation into the bureaucracy of the scheme, those directors who have served beyond a number of years or worked under (2) or more successive DGs should be made to go or be posted out to other directorates.
“They have entrenched themselves to the point they control any Director General and can frustrate any DG who is not ready to play ball” They mislead the DG who is a novice in the affairs of the scheme at all material times.
“Mr President, this appeal is to bring to your attention the fact that many other similar scenarios involving kidnap, rape,robbery and murder of Corp members usually go unreported just as the terms of negotiation remain shrouded in secrecy by the cabal of directors at the scheme”
Mr President would need to sack the DG and reshuffle the directors if the scheme must survive the onslaught in the hands of these corrupt officials”
The petition further informed Mr President to direct the investigation of private bank accounts of Brig Gen Yu’shau Ahmed and his directors insisting that Nigerians would be shocked to find out the depth of corruption ongoing at the scheme “
“Mr President, by simply utilizing the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of all the top management officials of the scheme, it is easy to get to the root of the corruption ongoing at the scheme as this is the only way to sanitize and rescue the scheme from the hands of these very corrupt officials “
“The scheme is now a blood money making venture for serving and retired army generals and top politicians who act as cover for the DG and his accomplices” They award contracts to these people without due process; this must stop under your leadership the petition admonished.
Beyond the unfortunate kidnap of Corp members, the Petitioners accused the scheme of Job racketeering, secret employment and the abuse of procurement processes in the award of contracts in the scheme “
“Mr President, there is need for you to direct an independent audit of all the suppliers and contractors of the scheme because that is where the DG and his mafia gang of directors have entrenched interests” they award supply contracts without advertising and they have specific fronts they use in order to sustain the illicit culture of receiving kick backs from contractors handling various supplies with the scheme. Most of these jobs are not done to specifications because of the interests of the management officials.
Consequently, we demand for the immediate suspension and investigation of the DG NYSC from office within ( 7 )days and we equally give him (7) days to ensure the release of the (11) Corp members abducted by bandits in Sokoto as well as publish the report wether ransom is paid or not” Mr President, it is on you to protect Nigerians and defend your mandate from the hands of saboteurs”
“Failure which we will mobilize parents, students, CSOs and Nigerians to picket NYSC offices across the country to mobilize Corp Members to down their tools untill their colleagues are released and security further assured”
