By Solomon Ikechukwu
The North East Elders for Peace and Development (NEEPD), has tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to end cycle of blood letting in the country.
The elders told the President to go all out against non state actors making the state ungovernable to prevent Nigeria from slumming into crisis prone states like Mali, Algeria, Western Sahara, Somalia, Sudan and others.
The patriotic elders, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni, said no economic and sustainable development could thrive in the face of mounting insecurity.
The Northern elders described as “appalling” the deteriorating security situation in the country, saying the situation must be addressed urgently, to sustain the nation’s sovereignty.
They regretted that a country, acclaimed to be the “giant of Africa”, will degenerate to a level where non-state actors will develop the capacity to threaten the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in the way and manner suspected bandits, kidnappers, insurgents, militia men, armed robbers as well as other criminal elements have continued to carry on.
In their contention, the seeming free reign with which the enemies of the state operate, may have created an impression in many quarters of failure of intelligence, which is the bedrock of national security and safety.
They also maintained that no stone should be left unturned, in an effort to ensure sanity was returned to all parts of the country.
The group however, lauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to his Service Chiefs, to “secure Nigeria”, through the deployment of all available military assets.
The elder statesmen expressed satisfaction with the fact that President Buhari, after a period of perceived inertia, appeared on public space, to hand down such an order, which was long anticipated.
“Nigerians of Goodwill will support our condemnation of the growing spate of insecurity across parts of the country, more so that they are witnesses to the ugly development, which has, by all means, impacted negatively on the socio-economic lives of the citizenry,” the group said.
They also expressed hope that Friday’s directive, coming at the time it did, may have a turn-around effect on the deplorable situation, which had led to the country’s third-place rating on the global terrorism index.
Quit Notice: Northern Governors, elders, meet to resolve issues
The Northern elders called out those that had sold the dummy that President Buhari was not in charge of affairs of the country, cautioning that his appearance over the weekend, should naturally put an end to the conspiracy theory.
