For
several months now, some parts of the nation have been boiling with
hostilities. We have now lost count of the number of killings that have
taken place. We have now lost count of the number of innocent Nigerians
that have been killed in one of the most dastard and mindless killings
in the history of Nigeria. I can't believe that this is happening in our
own very eyes and nothing has been done about these killings up till
now! It seems as if the government has now accepted this as the norm
because I'm yet to see any drastic step taken by the President to
address these urgent issues and put a permanent stop to these security
challenges.
President
Muhammadu Buhari should realize that the primary responsibility of
government is to protect lives and property and to care for the welfare
of the people. The government has failed to provide for the people. The
government has failed to protect the people of Nigeria. It now seems as
if there is no government in Nigeria. It now seems as if the people of
Nigerian have been left to protect themselves and the government has
abandoned its responsibility of protecting the citizens. The president
by his lackadaisical attitude to this continuous blood letting and his
inability to curtail these crises all these years has shown us that he
does not value the life of Nigerians. He has simply failed to uphold the
Nigerian constitution and his electoral promises. Nigerians are tired
of these empty promises and his inability to tackle Nigeria's mounting
security challenges which was one of the focal points of his campaign
that made Nigerians to give him a chance to solve these problems.
One
of the reasons Nigerians jettisoned former president Goodluck
Jonathan's government was his inability to tackle these security
challenges and we thought president Buhari would do better but what do
we have now? Nigerians are now being massacred in their own country even
when we have a government that should take decisive action and stop
these mindless killings. Benue state has been a hotbed of hostilities
for sometime now. The notorious fulani herdsmen have killed several
people in Benue including men of God and shed the blood of innocent
Nigerians, yet we have a government that has continuously failed to
fulfill its statutory responsibility of protecting the people. So it is
very clear that the security agencies in Nigeria are not really up and
doing and are not equal to the task in tackling these security
challenges. The whole security apparatus in Nigeria needs to be
overhauled since they cannot tackle Nigeria's security challenges.
When
you continue to apply a technique that continues to fail you, then you
must change that technique or else you will continue to fail. There must
be an urgent change in Nigeria's security ideas or else these killings
can never be tackled. The sponsors of these dastard killings must be
fished out and punished. The president should personally address
Nigerians and publicly condemn these evil acts and come out strongly
against these people who want to make Nigeria ungovernable. These people
must not be treated with kit gloves. They must be identified and
brought to book or else we would only be paying lip service to these
issues. The recent Plateau killings as well as the recurring killings in
other parts of Nigeria is highly condemnable and the president must
urgently rise to the occasion to solve this problem once and for all. We
cannot continue to witness these type of premeditated attacks on our
people across Nigeria even when we have a sitting president and the
Service Chiefs who seem helpless in tackling the menace. The blood of
the innocent people killed in different parts of Nigeria would cry out
for justice and until justice is done and the perpetrators fished out
and brought to justice, Nigeria may never know peace.
Since
these crises have continued unabated, it is very obvious that the
security chiefs are not only incompetent, but they lack the solution to
these problems. It simply shows they don't know their job and should be
immediately disbanded by the president for a new and fresh set of
security chiefs with fresh ideas to tackle these mounting security
challenges Nigeria is facing at the moment. The president must listen to
the voice of reason and urgently restructure the security architecture
in Nigeria and bring in people who are capable of tackling these
problems and people who have the solutions to these problems or else
these killings might never stop and might even get worse because it is
obvious that these killers are hell bent on destabilising Nigeria. The
president has a duty to ensure there is peace in Nigeria because that is
why Nigerians gave him the mandate in order to improve the lives of the
people. But if on the other hand the president fails to do this, he
should honorably resign and vacate office. Nigerians will no longer
accept lack of performance from the government. If the president cannot
remove these obviously incompetent security chiefs and overhaul the
security architecture of Nigeria and replace them with more competent
hands, then the president should be ready to tender his resignation
letter if these mindless killings of innocent Nigerians continue.
This
anarchy must stop. This conspiracy of silence against Nigeria must
stop. This wickedness must be brought to an end and it can never stop if
we don't take drastic and decisive actions to stem this tide of anarchy
and blood letting. It is very clear that the security chiefs have run
out of ideas on how to tackle these security challenges and therefore
they must immediately be sacked by the president and replaced with a new
set of security chiefs who can rise to the occasion and solve these
perennial security problems that have threatened the existence of
Nigeria.
This is the the
immediate solution to the current quagmire we have found ourselves as a
nation. But if on the other hand the president decides not to sack
these security chiefs and these crises continue, he must resign and
vacate office for a more competent leader who would be able to solve
Nigeria's challenges. But if he fails to resign, he must be prepared to
be disgraced out of office through the ballot box by the citizens of
Nigeria for failing to live up to the people's expectations and for
failing to fulfill his promises to the people. Nigerians say no to
incompetent leaders. Nigeria must work. Nigeria must know peace. Nigeria
must succeed no matter the circumstances and no matter the many
obnoxious conspiracies against the corporate existence of Nigeria.
TAYO DEMOLA
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
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