From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has demanded the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari over the failure to curb the spate of insecurity in the country.
The group said it was unfair for Buhari to sit tight when citizens, especially clergymen, were being kidnapped and killed unchallenged despite billions of dollars voted by government to tackle security challenges.
Executive Secretary of the group, Dr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, in a statement, yesterday, charged well-meaning organisations in the country and around the world to speak out and mount pressure on President Buhari to end the “current lack of a clear vortex of authority” in dealing with insecurity. If President Buhari believes he is too weak or tired to take charge of protecting citizens’ livves and properties, as he was elected to do, the best option is for him to resign as President rather than subject the country to its current travails, where it is sliding towards the status of a failed state where impunity reigns and people are at the mercy of bandits and insurgents. The government has a responsibility to protect all citizens; the sooner it begins to fulfil this responsibility, the better for our country’s stability.”
Zikirullahi said the group was deeply concerned about the rising wave of insecurity in Nigeria and its implications for political stability.
“As things stand, not a single day passes without citizens being subjected to violent attacks by a variety of criminal elements that leave a trail of sadness, tears and blood.
“In the face of these atrocities, the Nigerian State seems impotent and incapable of effectively responding to the security crisis that has engulfed the entire country, despite billions of US Dollars invested by President Buhari’s administration in the fight against insurgency, including the purchase of Tucano Jets.
“One worrisome aspect of the country’s insecurity is the emerging pattern of religious leaders and clerics being targeted for attacks, kidnapping, or outright elimination. From the kidnapping of the Methodist Prelate in Abia to the recurring abduction of Catholic priests, the religious dimension of recent violence necessitates introspection and a clear shift in strategy by those tasked with protecting lives and property. While the escalating problem of insecurity knows no sectarian victim, there is data to show that in recent attacks Catholic priests have come out worse off when counting the human costs of the insecurity.”
CHRICED listed priests recently kidnapped and killed by terrorists to include Frs. Joseph Bako and Vitus Borogo of the Catholic Diocese of Kaduna; Fr. Christopher Odia of Ikabigbo, Etsako West LGA, Edo State and Fr. Peter Amodu in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.
“Many other priests who survived such ordeals are still dealing with the trauma of spending weeks in terrorist and criminal dens. CHRICED is disturbed that spiritual leaders and clerics who should be revered, respected and honoured are being targeted and murdered by mindless criminals. We call on officials saddled with the task of protecting lives and property to urgently change the fruitless strategy of waiting to see if the attacks and general wave of insecurity would end on their own.”