The pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Sunday rose against President Muhammadu Buhari over his directive to the Armed Forces of Nigeria to confront and neutralise all terrorists and other criminals in the country, saying that the war against terrorism cannot be won with mere rhetoric.
Buhari in his address to the 247 graduating students of the Senior Course 44 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, last week Thursday, had charged the military to confront “terrorists and insurgents and wipe them off the face of the earth and bring peace to our countries.”
But, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, Afenifere described Buhari’s charge as a repetition of orders that no longer evokes substance as it was never backed up with the necessary wherewithal.
“Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, states unambiguously that ‘The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. Subsection (c) of the same section 14(2)(c) goes on to make it mandatory for the government to ensure the participation of the people in the governance of the country. As is known, this aspect is observed more in the breach than in the observance.”
It charged the government to legalise State pPlice to enable State and Local Governments secure people at the grassroots.
“Insurgency ought not to have occurred at all in the first place were the government up to its responsibility. And since it began, the kid-glove treatment being meted out to the terrorists was what made them grow to the point of taking over territories in some states in the northern part of the country notably Sokoto, Kaduna, Borno, Niger, Zamfara among others.
“A position that Afenifere has always been pushing on security, to wit: state and community policing system must be allowed with all the necessary powers while the national security agencies are equipped, motivated and mobilised adequately in a manner that would make them tower above the enemies, the terrorists and other criminal elements they are supposed to confront.”
