Elders in Nigeria’s troubled Northern Region have again, cried out over the deteriorating security situation in the region, saying the ugly development was going out of control if nothing urgent was done to arrest it.
While analyzing that the killings of both security personnel and civilians since the beginning of the ongoing year were alarming, the elders claimed that the actual situation of developments in the region was being downplayed.
They lashed out at those they said, were entrusted with maintaining security in the region for allegedly not giving President Muhammadu Buhari the necessary briefings and true situation of security development in the region.
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But the elders, operating under the aegis of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, in a statement by their national coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni, declared their support to the president that no ransom should be paid to abductors or negotiation be engaged with bandits again just as they warned against amnesty for terrorists.
According to the elders, ransom and negotiation were two major ingredients fueling abductions and other nefarious activities of bandits and terrorists in the country.
‘We write to decry the rising state of insecurity in the North East in particular and Northern Nigeria at large and the deliberate attempts by some very highly placed government officials to use some unpatriotic online media to be downplaying the true situation on the ground. This is unpatriotic and unacceptable to us.
‘We wish to draw the attention of these unpatriotic elements to the fact that engaging in this unwholesome act and at the same time expecting a different results is impossible,‘ the group said in the statement.
The elders vowed never to be silent in the face of the worsening insecurity in their region given that farmers were not going to their farms again beside the inability of residents to sleep with their eyes closed life in the past.
They tasked security heads to sit up to their responsibilities to end the security challenges.
‘As a people trusted with security by Mr President, they should be patriotic to tell him the true situation of security in the North East in particular and Northern Nigeria as a whole at all time, rather than desperately trying to cover up the situation to the detriment of human lives and property,’ they said.
According to the group, ‘We observed that the insecurity in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states is getting worse by the day. As a matter of fact, it has degenerated in last one month to a point of very serious concern.’
‘We are sure that this has been so because Mr President is not getting the right briefings from those entrusted with the situation.
‘It is regrettable that many people are being killed on daily basis in the region just as tens of soldiers are being killed unreported especially in the North East.
‘The ugly security development has made farmers not go to farm anymore. We feel Mr President should know this,’ it added.
The elders charged: ‘Those trusted with security and welfare of our people must be sincere in briefing Mr President so that he can give them the needed support and logistics to crush the worrisome situation once and for all.’
‘We are worried hence the need to speak out especially given that the affected area is our home base. We live here with our children and our parents.
‘It’s so disheartening to see our old parents who should be resting in their old age running helter-skelter every day for safety while some people sit in the comfort of their air-conditioned cars and offices making money from our misfortunes. This is highly unacceptable and we will not be silent in calling a spade a spade. The world must know that our people are suffering,‘ the statement added.
The elders alleged that some online media were being used by public officers to give a false reports of the situation thereby denying the public from knowing the true security situation.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK