The horrific killing of at least 43 rice farmers at Zabarmari in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State has sparked fresh call for the sacking of the country’s service chiefs by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Boko Haram had on Saturday reportedly killed the rice farmers in the village near Maiduguri, the state capital.
The terrorists were reported to have first tied up the farmers, who were working in rice fields, before slitting their throats.
Buhari had, in a statement last night through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, condemned the killing by the terrorists as ‘insane’ and ‘senseless’.
The retired general also said he has given all the needed support to the armed forces to take necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory.
But tired of rhetoric, grieving Nigerians have taken to the social media to slam the President and his service chiefs over their collective and repeated failure to secure lives and property in the country.
The concerned persons also insisted that the President sack the service chiefs and rejig the country’s security apparatus.
The Special Adviser on Media to the Kano State Governor, Salihu Yakasai, said it was shameful that nobody has been sacked a day after the tragedy.
The Kano governor’s aide, who tweeted @dawisu, “If this doesn’t move you to tears, I don’t know what will. 43 souls woke up and went to earn a living, only to be slaughtered like rams. 24 hours later, nobody has been sacked, no major action taken, and in another 24 hours, the outcry will end and we will move on.”
A TV host, Morayo Afolabi-Brown, wrote, “If Buhari does not sack the service chiefs over the brutal killing of these farmers, then our lawmakers need to start talking about impeachment.”
A social commentator, Gimba Kakanda, also knocked the President for not addressing the nation on the tragedy.
“The first thing Buhari ought to have done today was appearing on TV, bearing the pain of the people he had failed, to announce the sack of his overstaying service chiefs,” Kakanda stated, adding that “even our military Heads of State didn’t take the country for granted as Buhari has.”
Another user, @SodiqTade, also commented, “Anything outside sacking the service chiefs is not a positive action to me. Buhari should sack these men and not having meetings with them. The meetings have never and will never be productive.”
@josanyaolu kicked against the deradicalisation of former terrorists by the Federal Government.