The Coalition of Concerned Northern Youths (CCNY) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to honourably resign as President, adding that he has failed woefully.
In a statement signed by its National Convener, Muhammed Ishaq and made available to newsmen, yesterday, the coalition cited the President’s lack of the will power to tackle the security challenges facing the country.
This call by the youths’ coalition followed a similar call by the Ango Abdullahi-led Northern Elders Forum (NEF), which had last weekend declared the administration of President Buhari a total failure.
The group said it had warned Nigerians that Buhari has nothing to offer to them, adding that the President has failed to tackle insecurity and improve the economy.
NEF said Buhari-led government appeared helpless in finding solutions to the numerous challenges the country is faced with
The Northern youths added, “The above named coalition wishes to make its position clear regarding the insecurity problem that has been ravaging Nigeria, particularly the Northern part for long.
“We, as a coalition that represents millions of youths from various nooks and crannies of Northern Nigeria, are pained by the insecurity problem that threatens to consume our region, the North.
“It is a glaring fact that security situation of Nigeria is seriously deteriorating and our agony as victims is aggravating. This lingering insecurity problem is one of the major reasons that made us to clamour for change and voted Goodluck Jonathan out in 2015.
“But instead of getting panacea for the problem, we just got respite, and now, the problem has been resurfacing with escalating dimension under the watch of someone that vowed to be our saviour.”
The group noted that is almost five years now and the country under the watch of Buhari is either worse than the Jonathan administration or it is no different from the previous government despite the fact that in his first term, “Buhari pledged that his government would bring an end to the national suffering inflicted by insecurity.
“Our stance as youths and backbone of our nation is that we grow tired of excuses while our lives are being taken on hourly basis.
“We cannot continue watching while our region is being turned to ashes and cemetery.
“We cannot keep mute while our future is being punctured and fractured due to the carelessness and negligence of those that are entrusted with our protection.
“Our investigation revealed that about 80 per cent of the victims of this insecurity are Nigerian youths, particularly Northerners considering the fact that the kidnapped and the kidnappers are mostly youths, the killed and the killers are mostly youths, the soldiers on warfront and the terrorists are mostly youths also.
“It is on reliable and available records that not less than 245 persons were killed in violent attacks across Nigeria in January, 2020 only.
“The Expat Insider Survey of 2019 by Inter Nations has revealed that Nigeria is the third most dangerous country in the world due to widespread insecurity and corruption.
“The aforementioned facts have irrefutably shown that Muhammadu Buhari as President of Nigeria has woefully failed to secure the lives of Nigerians due to probably lack of will, commitment or competence.
“If we did not forget, when Nigeria was boiling under Jonathan with Boko Haram massacring thousands and over-running military barracks, almost all Nigerians believed Jonathan was not fit to rescue Nigeria and was voted out.
“Now that the same insecurity problem is replaying itself under President Muhammadu Buhari, we are left with no option than to respectfully but vehemently call on President Muhammadu Buhari to honourably resign to give room for someone who has what it takes to address the security problem that constantly turns our nation to another version of Somalia.
“The above call is made in the best interest of the nation having considered the fact that insecurity problem is caused and maintained by nothing but the failure of leadership.”
Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to go beyond his sympathy visit to Borno State and take decisive steps to end the killings across the country.
This is even as the party described the alleged booing of President Buhari in Borno State, yesterday, as a clear message to him that Nigerians hold him responsible for the escalated insecurity in the country.
A statement signed by the party’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan read: “The PDP demands that Mr. President should not limit his visit to Borno State but also visit other parts of the country, including Kaduna, Kano, Benue, Plateau, Yobe, Adamawa, Zamfara, Kogi, Niger, Taraba and other states to face the feelings of Nigerians as well as view the national devastation his poor handling of security and infrastructure has caused our nation.
“The party hopes that the visit to Borno State, which came only after the PDP and Nigerians criticized Mr. President for his aloofness, particularly over the Auno killing on Sunday, is not part of the usual presidential media stunts that will not be followed with a corresponding action to track down killers and end terrorism.
“It (booing) shows a loss of confidence in the Buhari Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The PDP further charges Mr. President to endeavour to go on subsequent visits by road in order to see and feel the agony Nigerians are being subjected to with the parlous state of our road infrastructure and security network under the incompetent and unresponsive Buhari Presidency and APC.
“Our party holds that Nigerians do not deserve a distant President, who sits in the comfort of the Presidential villa and luxury jets, remaining indifferent to the pains, anguish and torments that compatriots suffer on daily basis.
“The PDP hereby calls on Mr. President to quickly embark on these visits and monitor, on first hand basis, the damage which his administration has caused and for which Nigerians are demanding that he resigns and allow more competent hands to manage the affairs of our nation. It is only after these visits that the Buhari Presidency will appreciate that those calling on him to rejig the nation’s security architecture mean well for our dear country.”
However, the songs of welcome have changed in Maiduguri for President Muhammadu Buhari, from being friendly and warm to being openly hostile.
According to video published online, yesterday, as the President’s convoy blitzed through the streets of the Boko Haram threatened city, the crowd that lined the streets shouted “Bama so”, “Bama so”, which means “We don’t want you”.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the people of Borno to cooperate with the military and other security agencies to facilitate successful implementation of the counter-insurgency campaign.
The President made the call when he paid a condolence visit to the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar El-Kanemi, yesterday, in Maiduguri.
Recall that the president is in Borno to sympathise with government and people of the state over the Boko Haram insurgents’ attack which claimed many lives at Auno in Konduga Local Government Area.
The insurgents had, last Sunday, attacked Auno community, killing dozens of stranded passengers, destroyed houses, vehicles and properties worth millions of Naira.
Buhari noted that the fight against insurgency could not be executed without good intelligence and support of the people.
“Boko Haram, or whatever they are, cannot come up to Maiduguri or its environs without the local leadership knowing; traditionally, the local leadership is in charge of security in their own respective areas.
“With my understanding of our culture, I wonder how Boko Haram survives up to this end.
“As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I campaigned in 2015 and last year on three fundamental issues which include security – you cannot preside over an institution or a country if it is not secured.
“This is just common sense, everybody knows this, even those that have not gone to school knows this.
“On the issue of economy, the Nigerian youths are over 60 per cent of our population with many of them below 30-years. We have to remind them that they must help us to stabilise the country so that they can have a better future.
“If they do not cooperate with government; they are endangering their future; I am already 77 now, how many years do I expect under normal circumstances?”
Buhari reiterated his commitment to work with the security agencies to enhance security, protect lives and property in the country.
“We are working for you in this country; as Commander-in-Chief, I am dealing with the security institutions, and I believe there is improvement in security.
“I urge the people of the state to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies; let us deny Boko Haram access to our loyal citizens and encourage displaced people to go back to their land,” he said.
The President noted that his visit to the state was to sympathise and show his respect to the governor and the people of the state.
Speaking on the economy of the nation, Buhari said that government had saved millions of dollars through agriculture which enhances livelihood of farmers and food security, and also improved the social and economic state of the people.
Buhari said that the Federal Government had adopted proactive measures to check smuggling through the land borders in the country.
According to him, government has created an enabling environment for educated Nigerians to venture into legitimate and sustainable agriculture to enable them become self-reliant and employers of labour.
The President, however, commended the state Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum for providing quality leadership in the state.
Also speaking, Zulum called on the military to take the fight to the insurgents in the fringes of the Sambisa Forest, Lake Chad Basin and other identified hideouts of the terrorists.
Zulum urged the military authorities to foster greater unity between them and the civil authorities with a view to closing the existing discrepancies in their relations.
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) says the killing of over 30 people in Auno near Maiduguri by Boko Haram has again proven that the security architecture in Nigeria has collapsed.
CAN wondered why President Muhammadu Buhari was dragging foot on the need to overhaul the security hierarchy.
In a statement yesterday, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, spokesman to CAN president, Rev Samson Ayokunle, commiserated with families of the bereaved, Muslims in Nigeria, the people and Borno State Government.
It said that the Nigerian Army and Buhari Government had severally claimed that terrorists had been decimated, technically defeated and chased away from the country.
CAN lamented that the insurgents have actually become more daring in their deadly operations, consistently attacking communities, killing, maiming, abducting and burning property with minimal or without any resistance from the frontline troops.
Condemning the claim, CAN has insisted that that the security arrangement in the country, especially in the North-east has been compromised.
“Except the security system is completely overhauled, Nigerians will remain helpless and Federal Government may never be able to contain the current nightmarish security situation”, it warned.
“There is no doubt that sabotage and compromise are largely responsible for the prolonged terrorism, banditry, kidnappings and herdsmen killings in the country, an allegation that has been confirmed by authoritative voices in the country’s security circle at the highest level.
“It is, however, sad that Federal Government nay the Commander-in-Chief is still turning a deaf ear to the desperate calls for the rejigging of the security architecture by Nigerians.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) says the killing of over 30 people in Auno near Maiduguri by Boko Haram has again proven that the security architecture in Nigeria has collapsed.