UNLESS the Jonathan-led Federal Government rescues the missing
girls from Chibok before October 2014, the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) said in
Kaduna on Monday that President Goodluck Jonathan should forget his re-
election bid for 2015.
For over 100 days now, over 200 Chibok schoolgirls were abducted by
members of the Boko Haram sect and there is still no any clue as to their
whereabouts, in spite of the reported international effort to find them.
Speaking at a press conference in Kaduna, a former Speaker of the
Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr Solomon Dalung, said the Alhaji Sule
Maitama-led NEF had to give the president October 2014 ultimatum, because
it was taking too long for the girls to be released, while the security
situation had continued to deteriorate.
The warning , he said, became necessary “because we were of firm
conviction that the insurgency occasioned by the activities of the sect and
other related security challenges poses a threat to the 2015 elections and the
survival of the nation.
“In the light of this conviction, we strongly advise President Jonathan
to bring an end to insurgency and produce the Chibok girls before the end
of October 2014.
“General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General
Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, General Abdussalami
Abubakar, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Architect Namadi Sambo, General T.Y Danjuma
and all retired Chief Justices of Nigeria from the North represent grossly
under-utilised assets of the North.
“The NEF joins millions of northerners in appealing to these leaders to
raise their levels of involvement in the fortunes of our region,” they said.
The Northern elders said failure of the president to produce the Chibok
girls and tackle other security challenges in the land would amount to the
forfeiture of his rights to ask for another mandate to lead Nigeria beyond
2015.
They also expressed dismay over the circumstances under which the people
of Gwoza in Borno State live as if there was no government, insisting that such
a condition was unacceptable.
“Fellow citizens in and around Gwoza in Borno State in particular
live and die, that will not be tolerated by any people, who have a government and
a leader sworn to defend them.
“The trend must be reversed immediately. In the event that President
Jonathan fails to do this, Nigerians will be left with the only conclusion that
he has forfieted his right to ask for our mandate beyond 2015.”
He further said that lack of the strong will by the presidency to fight
and coupled with the deep-seated corruption, as well as incompetence in
government have allowed the insurgency in the North to continue unabated.
“NEF resolved that most of the security challenges in some parts of the
region are being carried out to weaken the north politically.
“The security situation in our nation today represents the most serious
threat to our individual and collective lives in our entire history. The
reality is that the threats posed by what appears to be an insurgency that has
many manifestations and defies a clear and consistent identity is growing due
to the absence of a clear national consensus over its nature, and it solutions.
“Lack of a strong will at the level of the presidency to fight it, as
well as deep-seated corruption and incompetence in government and in the
management of our security challenges has allowed a band of terrorists to take
and hold vast parts of our land and populations hostage, while every citizen
lives in fear of being its next victim.
“The Northern Elders’ Forum does not believe that the Nigerian military
cannot defeat these terrorists. We also reject the notion that multiple
internal security challenges, such as attacks on villages, ethno-religions
conflicts and banditry springing up by the day in many parts of the North are
all a coincidence.
“Indeed, we are convinced that most of these conflicts are being
engineered to weaken the North politically and economically by interests which
intended to exploit such weaknesses for electoral benefits.”
The elders also linked the attitudes of past leaders of the North to the
security and economic problems of the region, even as they could not reverse
the dangerous trends befallen the North.
“It is no secret that the vast majority of northerners lament their
marginalisation, insecurity and poverty and blame it more on the inability of
unwillingness of its past and present leaders to utilise all access to power
which they enjoy, to bring us redress and relief,” they said.
A good letter. Acquisition of western education is the major reason that pushed the southerners ahead. Past heads of state mainly from the north tried to ensure allocation of more federal revenue to the north through creation of states and local govts but culture favoured concentration of these resources in the hands of Alhajis, Emirs, etc so that almajiris and beggars could cluster around them with plates and spoons daily for daily meals. It is very sad to note that rejection of this western education that pushed the southerners ahead is what insurgents in the north are fighting to achieve. This is self destruction. Meanwhile children of northern leaders are in Uk, US, etc acquiring western education. Even Saudi Arabia regarded as home of Islam invests heavely in their children acquiring western education. There is need for revolution in the north that will modify their culture and change their orientation generally. Illiterates are easy pawns in the hands of selfish wicked leaders.
ReplyDeleteThey should release them from where they kept them,GEJ doesn't know where they are,the whole truth will soon come in the open.
ReplyDelete