The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has condemned the attack on Kuje Maximum Custodial Centre in Abuja, which was attacked by terrorists last Tuesday.
The ACF, in a statement issued on Monday by its Secretary General, Murtala M. Aliyub, said the response of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Kuje prison attack was to “offer the familiar cocktail of platitudes, of sermons, condemnations and yet more sermons.
“As usual, the president asked the security services to ‘investigate’ the outbreak and find out what led to it. Presumably, in the view of the President, that was all that he was expected or required to do in the circumstances.
“Although we count ourselves amongst his ardent supporters and have always wished him well, Nigeria’s rapid descent into strife, violence and lawlessness is getting to a point at which we can no longer afford to tell him only that which he wants to hear. We do need tell the the president what he also needs to hear.
“We simply are unable to find any courteous or less painful words to describe the feeling of utter frustration among the broad masses of Nigeria, especially in the North, arising from the ineffectual management of the security crises by the President.
“The President in his Sallah message promised to deal with the situation before the end of his tenure. However, as long as the crises remains unabating, Nigerians will justifiably conclude that the government is ineffective and needs to do more if they will ever be able to quell the crises.
“Probably because President Buhari is unable or unwilling to hold his appointees responsible for any deterioration of the security situation and some other socioeconomic sectors under their watch, the vast amount of money and other resources being pumped into the security agencies have largely been ineffective.
“The required boost in manpower and equipment, long recognized as the missing link in the current campaign, have remained largely unimplemented to the required level needed to secure the nation.”
The ACF added that in other countries, the attack on Kuje prison and “similar ones that have happened in parts of Nigeria would have led to massive reshuffle, resignations and possibly prosecutions of officials that are negligent, incompetent or plainly untrustworthy.
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“No person other than the President has both the mandate and responsibility to ensure that the government of Nigeria maintains peace, security, order and good governance.
“We demand that President Bihari braces up without further delay and rise to today’s occasion. The regime needs to reprioritize its programs and free more resources needed to end the pervasive insecurity that is bringing the country to its knees.
”We have a duty to tell the president what he needs to hear, which is that the patience of Nigerians is not limitless,” the ACF stated.
