The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), has said President Muhammadu Buhari is now a big part of the Northern problems instead of the solutions he was elected to become.
The group through its spokesman Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, on Tuesday, said communities in northern Nigeria are now left to protect themselves after years of waiting for the Buhari administration to keep its promise to end insecurity in the region if elected.
“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 mobilize 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.
A similar statement was made by Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), saying the North did not vote for President Muhammadu Buhari to worsen their condition by failing to address the growing insecurity in the region.
The group said despite its call for President Muhammadu Buhari to give attention to the growing insecurity in the region, following its meeting in October, the security situation has now worsened.
The ACF said it was worried that there have been serial killings of more people in the north by bandits whom the Minister of Police “claimed falsely have been defeated.”
A statement issued by the Forum National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe stated that: “Even as the Minister was claiming falsely, whether in ignorance or deliberate, victory over bandits, 12 Police Superintendents on official duty from Zamfara to Kano were overpowered by superior tactics and force while driving in a convoy and abducted with a heavy ransom demand on each policeman’s family.
“Apart from that, the bandits mounted four roadblocks on Kaduna- Abuja road whom the police have claimed severally that they have liberated from bandits.”
While condemning the several attacks on Kaduna-Abuja Highway including the abduction of nine ABU students, the ACF said many of the security breaches have become a source of worry to northerners who voted for the present government that they thought will secure their lives and property as spelled out in the country’s constitution.
“We feel there is no need to call on President Buhari to live up to his oath of office. He knows more than anybody else the implications of swearing on the Quran and refusing to honor your oath to the Almighty.
“We are only for the umpteenth time conveying the anger and frustrations of many Northerners to him so that he will do the needful and speedily too. It is getting too late.”
Discussion about this post