Over 200 groups across Nigeria and the Diaspora have issued a warning that Nigeria was drifting into anarchy with the level of killings across the country.
Some representatives of the groups, which met in Lagos to discuss the rising insecurity in Nigeria, also called for a security summit to be held within two weeks.
The meeting convened by the President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Malam Shettima Usman Yerima, had in attendance Mazi Okechukwu Iziogosoro, (National President, Ohanaeze Youth Council), Eric Olawale (Yoruba Youth Council), and Barrister Pereotubo Oweilaemi (President, Ijaw Youth Council and leader, Ethnic Nationalities of Niger Delta).
Reviewing the security situation in states like Zamfara, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau and others, the groups declared: “The current dangerous situation, which places the younger generation of Nigerians at the receiving end of the entire violent incidents, is unacceptable and must be halted.”
A communiqué issued by the groups urged stakeholders in the Nigeria Project to, within two weeks, act decisively to avoid the consequential backlash of over-stretching citizens’ patience.
The group warned that “Nigeria, Africa and indeed the entire world may not be able to cope with the consequences of a full blown religious or ethnic war in Nigeria which the current dangerous trend portends.
“The situation also portends the immediate danger of scuttling the nation’s democratic order with the dire consequences of a drift to anarchy.
“We, therefore, call on Nigerian elders, leaders of thought, theological and cultural leaders and all our international friends to step in quickly and save the situation as any further delay could be dangerous.
“Consequently, we urge that the president as the chief security officer of the country to liaise with critical stakeholders in the country to convene a Security Summit within two weeks to address decisively the ugly situation.”
The coalition said it was troubled by the scary figures quoted by various national and international bodies accounting for the lives lost to series of violent situations in the last few years.
“The situation is so disturbing that the UK House of Lords for instance, recently expressed worry about the inability of the Nigerian authorities to end the excessive killings, warning that ethno-religious violence in the country may escalate to the Rwanda type genocide if the Federal Government remained complacent about it.
“On its part, Amnesty International, on June 27, 2018, quoted 1,813 violence-related deaths based on reported cases since January, 2018 alone, with many more killings during the period which were either denied by the government, or were never reported at all.
“In a separate report, the United States Council on Foreign Relations’ Nigeria Security Tracker says it has documented, at least, 19,890 deaths in Nigeria since June, 2015, just after the current administration assumed office on May 29, 2015.
“The CFR, an independent body of experts dedicated to providing advice on policy options facing countries, put the cumulative deaths from May, 2011 to May, 2018 at 53,595 in violence that is both causal and symptomatic of weakness of Nigeria’s political institutions and citizen alienation.
“They also included violent incidents related to political, economic, and social grievances directed at the state or other affiliated groups (or conversely the state employing violence to respond to those incidents.)
“Armed with sophisticated weaponry, bands of killers moving freely are believed to have killed more men, women and children in 2015, 2016 and 2017, than Boko Haram has done in the 12 years of its violent campaign.
“And these untamed bandits and armed ethnic militias who have killed thousands with impunity, are most likely to kill more in the absence of prosecution or deterrent, with government appearing helpless or unwilling to act decisively.
“A failure of the authorities to halt the trend has already given rise to speculations suggesting that the bloodbath is deliberately orchestrated by those holding power in order to service occult demands, or that government is manipulating the situation to split the nation along religious or ethnic fault lines in order to gain the sympathy of certain sections in the forthcoming general elections,” the communiqué said.
Meanwhile, over 200 groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), yesterday, condemned Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai for claiming that the recorded deaths in Nigeria in recent times was nothing to worry about.
The group, which declared that the government of the day had failed in its responsibility to secure the country, appealed to stakeholders in the Nigeria Project to help rescue it by organising a security summit.
The groups also pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to stop blaming the opposition and realise that the buck stops on his table.
They urged the president to take responsibility and act immediately so as to stop a drift that could become uncontrollable.
“While unchecked gangs of criminals plunder hundreds of communities, rape several women, kidnap innocent villagers including children and displace hundreds, some leaders such as the Kaduna state Governor Nasir el-Rufai say the number of deaths is yet insignificant for the nation to worry.
“Such callous remarks by people in authority give credence to concerns that these ugly incidences are encouraged by the tardy, untidy and often indifferent posture or attitude of the current government which has been slow, indecisive or mistaken in its responses.
“For example, it took the President in particular, several years to visit Zamfara, many more months to go to Taraba and about 10 weeks to visit Benue after the killing of thousands of citizens in those states.
“And while consoling mourners in all these states, the President only found time to blame the opposition for the continued attacks, not minding that the buck stops with him, especially on security matters; which is what being Commander-In-Chief is all about.
“In another observed lapse elsewhere, Mr President simply told foreign audience in both the United States and Britain, that the killers in Nigeria were Gaddafi trainees who dispersed across the Sahel after his death, without bothering to explain the effort his government had made to apprehend the criminal intruders,” the group said in a communiqué signed by Yerima, National President, Ohanaeze Youth Council, Mazi Okechukwu Iziogosoro; President of Yoruba Youth Council, Eric Olawale; and President, Ijaw Youth Council and Ethnic Nationalities of Niger Delta, Barrister Pereotubo R. Oweilaemi, on behalf of over 200 groups.
They also blamed the heightened tension in the country on government’s poor approach, lack of cooperation with other arms and the lack of coordination among the security agencies in the country.
They lamented that some policemen and other security agents have further escalated the violence with extra-judicial killings.