The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has backed the position of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) over the growing security challenges in northern Nigeria, saying President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to address his most primary responsibility of providing security.
The ACF had on Monday expressed the annoyance and frustration of northerners to President Buhari on the growing security challenges in the region and that the northerners had expected much more from the present administration.
This is according to a statement by the spokesman for the coalition, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who on Tuesday said that communities in northern Nigeria must mobilise to protect themselves from bandits and terrorists.
‘Northern communities are under the threats of bandits and kidnappers, our highways are no longer safe, villagers are fleeing their communities and our conclusion is that the president has failed and he is deliberately not agreeing to the advice of the majority of Nigerians that he should at least sack the service chiefs,’ he said.
‘All we hear now from our people in the rural areas is disappointment and in some cases regret. People do not even look at the potentials of farming now because the villages and farmlands have been vacated.’
‘It has become necessary now for all communities to mobilise and protect themselves because the bandits have chased people out of their homes and even places like Ahmadu Bello University in the heart of Zaria and Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic are not safe and this is coming at a time that students will likely be returning to school. What this means is that parents should not hastily send their children to school, they must be certain that their lives are secured,’ he said.
The Northern Elders Forum has also said there is no doubt that the administration of President Buhari does not care about the people of the north, their economy and security.
This is according to a statement issued by the Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Northern Elders Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed while reacting to the new deadline for the reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway scheduled for completion in five years’ time, revealed that the slow pace of the work and the consequent deterioration of the highway had made it the most dangerous highway in the nation and the most attractive to kidnappers who have resurfaced recently to compound routine losses of lives and billions in economic losses.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, in a Town hall meeting organized by Federal Ministry of Works and Housing held at the Kaduna State University Conference hall told Stakeholders that Mr President is more passionate and concerned about finishing this road and many others before his constitutional term ends. The road is said to be completed in the next five years.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK