A rights group, Coalition of North Central Civil Society Groups have given insights why it supports President Muhammadu Buhari and the head of various security agencies in their efforts to stamp out insurgency, banditry and other forms of Insecurity in the country.
The group at a solidarity rally on Saturday in Makurdi explained that the relative peace experienced in the country particularly in the region when compared to some years past was enough for it to declare total support for President Muhammadu Buhari and the service chiefs to continue on their path to ending insecurity and corruption.
The leaders of the group, Mr. Benard Tiza, Plangnam Useni, converner and co-convener speaking to journalists during a solidarity rally also urged the government to profile persons alleged to be fueling crises across the country.
Nigeria has witnessed various forms of crises across the nation particularly in the northern region ranging from insurgency, banditry and kidnapping.
However, the group believes that some opposition elements were working round the clock to thwart the efforts of security agencies.
“The determination of the sponsors is to make the country ungovernable and paint a picture that the present administration and particularly service chiefs cannot protect lives and property. Nigeria must not bow to the antics of criminals.
“Security agencies must carefully watch the activities of some opposition politicians. Their utterances make us believe that they know more about this insurgency. They are fueling violent crimes with their utterances and unpatriotic posturing on the issue of insecurity”.
Displaying placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Fight Against Corruption and Insecurity Must Be Won’,
‘Thank You PMB For Resolving Conflicts Between Herders and Farmers’, ‘We Say No to Unprovoked Attacks on Our Security Agencies’. ‘Military Doing Good in Curtailing Insurgents, Bandits’, ‘Thank You PMB For Your Stand Against Corruption and Insecurity’ amongst others, the group said their action was informed by significant improvement in the security situation in the country.
“It has become imperative to address you on the state of the Nation. Most especially as it pertains to the security of citizens, Lives and property and particularly the North Central region. More so that the constitution makes the protection of citizens sacrosanct and the first priority for every government.
“Since contemporary democracy in 1999, Nigeria has been grappling with many security challenges, ranging from insurgency, kidnapping and most recently, the herder-farmer conflicts among other communal clashes . The north central states of Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa and other states have experienced conflicts that led to thousands of deaths and displacements as a result of clashes between pastoralists (herders) and local farmers in several communities. In January 2018 alone, Amnesty International reports indicate that 168 people were killed as a result of herdsmen-farmer clashes.
“Today we address you to boldly inform you that the story has improved tremendously over time, we have been involved in peace building and crisis management advocacy and as such we have noticed great improvement which has informed our decision to pass a vote confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari and the service chiefs for their unrelenting efforts at reducing these clashes to the barest minimum. It is our hope that the clashes will be totally brought to an end”.
“We have keenly followed the successes recorded my the military and other security agencies in the fight against insurgency, criminals and bandits in the country generally. We there make bold to say, our troops deserve our support and cooperation”, the group argued.
It further urged President Buhari to keep faith with the service chiefs and disregard unpatriotic calls for their sack considering the successes they have achieved.
“We recall with chagrin that, before the coming on board of this administration and particularly the service chiefs, bombing became the order of the day. It was unusual to wake up and not see gory pictures of bomb blasts. Abuja the Nation’s capital was not safe too.
“In the light of this, we rise to oppose calls from some quarters for the sack of the military chiefs. It is our settled opinion based on the success recorded by the security agencies that, you do not change a winning team in the middle of a battle.
“We commend the military for their renewed determination to go after the main sponsors of these terrorist, bandits and criminals. Their arrest and prosecution is the only sure way of eliminating insurgency in the country”.
