The National Democratic Front, NDF, has warned the Nigerian
Governors’ Forum against looking for scapegoats to cover their alleged
failures to tackle nagging insecurity in their respective states.
This statement came following the release of the Global Peace Index
2019 that places Nigeria at number 148 of the countries of the world
surveyed.
NDF claimed it has uncovered a plot by some state governors to
exploit this report as basis to demand some unhealthy changes in the
nation’s security architecture, in furtherance of their individual
agenda.
Addressing newsmen on Wednesday, Abdulkadir Bolaji, Secretary General
of the forum noted that the statement became imperative following the
move by state governors under the Nigerian Governors Forum to prevail on
President Mhammadu Buhari to take steps that may be inimical to
national interest while being favourable to state governors.
NDF, therefore, urged President Buhari to question governors’
commitment to peace and security given the persistent with which they
have done things that promote and complicates the problems that the
country is dealing with.
NDF added, “It is common knowledge that reports such as this usually
are unable to factor in the most recent developments, like the progress a
country has made in dealing with its security problems. But this
briefing is not about the Global Peace Index 2019, which we shall
address at a later date.
“The crux of the briefing is the surreptitious move by state
governors under the Nigerian Governors Forum to prevail on President
Muhammadu Buhari to take steps that may be inimical to national interest
while being favourable to state governors.
“A key one among these questionable steps is a demand for a supposed
overhaul of the security structure, citing instances and making excuses
that have no bearing on the reality of addressing the complex security
breaches that have been created in the land.
“We find it most uncharitable that the Governors Forum is now
agitating to have the wrong solutions implemented to address the problem
that its members were solely responsible for creating.
“This is why we are calling on the governors to stop being childish,
accept what they have done wrong to cause the current security problems
and adopt a holistic approach towards resolving the numerous security
issues facing the country instead of playing to the gallery.
“Since the chief executives of the second tier of government appear
to have suffered amnesia about how they caused the current set of
problems in the land, it is necessary to refresh their minds for them to
recollect how they serially raped the land to produce the present
harvest of problems that appear resistant to known solutions.
“It is pertinent to remind our dear governors that the degeneration
of the security situation of the country, in non-Boko Haram aspects,
only worsened after the recent general elections, in which many of them
without tangible projects and programmes to entice voters were desperate
to win. It was this desperation that made them to take measures that
are now haunting their respective states and the country at large.
“For instance, it was this desperation that made them to arm youths
as political thugs with illicit weapons that have now been channeled
towards kidnapping and banditry. Those in fringe states among them
actively encouraged the inflow of aliens into Nigeria while subverting
the ability of border communities to flag the entrance of hired
mercenaries into the country. The alarm was previously raised by the
federal government about how the opposition among these politicians
hired mercenaries to cause security breaches in Nigeria.
“In terms of remote causes of insecurity in the land, it was these
same governors that have been responsible for underdeveloping their
states and impoverishing their population to a point where the risk of
death from violent crimes no longer deter citizens that have practically
snapped and crossed the point of no return. These same governors have
become experts at squandering allocations meant for security vote, which
they now in most cases disbursed to arm ethnic militias.
“It is nauseating that the same governors and their associates are
now presssuing President Buhari to abandon his winning team so that they
can be replaced with those that will allow terrorism and criminality to
explode into ful time businesses for the urchins serving the interest
of these same governors. This is why they have become obsessed with the
symptoms instead of owning up to their own roles in these problems.
“Instead of scape-goating the heads of security agencies and military
chiefs, our dear governors should rather open up to Mr. President about
the things they did wrong to create whatever security breach currently
prevails in their respective states. Such profound exposition of the
crimes that have been committed against Nigeria will give indication on
how to effectively tackle the current challenges.”