A Northern group, Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development (CNEEPD), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency, sack the service chiefs becuase the country’s worsening security situation.
The group said the excuses being tendered by the service chiefs were no longer acceptable to them.
Chairman of the group, Zana Goni, called on Buhari to listen to Nigerians by implementing a recent resolution by the National Assembly asking him to rejig the country’s security apparatus, which they described as “so bad”.
“We have seen that despite the funding of the military by our dear President and the assurances by our service chiefs that things would change, nothing seems to be happening in that direction. This is regrettable.
“The worsening security situation in the country further reinforces the urgent need to inject new hands with fresh ideas, to handle the nation’s security architecture. We have seen that the security situation under the current service chiefs has reached an unbearable state,” Goni said.
The group said Nigeria has been distressed by mindless killings of her citizens and pillaging of defenseless communities by insurgents, bandits, and kidnappers. “There is no denying the fact also, that these have resulted in indescribable agony, anguish, and torment to the Nigerians.
“We, the Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development, in the strongest terms, restate the call on President Muhammadu Buhari to honour the resolution of the National Assembly and positions of the majority of Nigerians, to immediately remove the service chiefs and bring in new hands to effectively confront the security challenges staring us in our face as a nation,” the group said.
They said they will no longer sit on the fence and watch the situation, which according to them, has become a nightmare to Nigerians.
“Nigerians voted for Buhari massively because of his vast experience in security. Sacking the chiefs and appointing new and younger officers into the system will restore lost morale, zeal, hope, and confidence to the armed forces and the country.
“It is obvious that the current crop of service chiefs has overstayed and has run out of ideas to win the war against insurgents. Mr. President must show them the way out; our ways of livelihood in the North East have been destroyed by insurgents and the poverty level in our zone now is so high. It is on these premises that we call on President Buhari to sack the service chiefs without further delay,” the group said.