ANALYSIS: The North is Upset, By Arewa Agenda
AREWA AGENDA – Northern Nigeria has recently been fiercely troubled and it is not the mayraids of socio-economic issues that has plagued the region for decades that is upsetting it, but rather a sustained exposure to threat, danger and recurring genocide that is almost erasing whatever semblance of sanity that is left of this once glorious region.
From active revolt and uprisings, kidnappings, cattle rustling, banditary and armed robbery, the North, under the watch of one of its sons who was elected on a security mandate, is violently and noisily bursting into shatters.
Incessant killings by criminal groups are rupturing rural life in the region.
President Muhammadu Buhari after every violent attack continues to churn orders and threats from the cover of his Presidential palace andhis words are yet to meet their match in tantamount action.
With the raging COVID-19 pandemic, many had thought attacks will temporarily cease, but it turns out not to be the case as Katsina has arguably been the worst hit by wanton attacks lately.
For the past two months, tension has heightened in four Local Government Areas of Katsina State, following renewed attacks orchestrated by bandits on some communities in the areas.
During this period over 100 people have been killed in fresh separate attacks orchestrated by bandits in about 12 villages in Dutsin-Ma, Danmusa, Safana and Faskari local government areas of Katsina State.
These attacks are coming on the heels of the peace pact reached by the state government and the marauding bandits.
Borno, Sokoto, Kaduna, Zamfara, Plateau, Niger have continued to suffer similar carnage.
It took a chain of horrendous killings and bloodbath before elders and interest group began to erupt in protest, even so, the Presidency dismissed the cry for help as foolish, describing one of the voices as “a general without troops.”
The Presidency, Northern Elders and the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF engaged in war of words over the rising spate of insecurity in the country especially as it mostly affects the Northern Region.
Speaking recently, Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Muhammed, said those saddled with the responsibility of protecting the people were not in charge. He said the governments at the federal and state levels in north lacked the political will to deal decisively and flush out the bandits and terrorists to end the attacks and address the security challenges faced by the nation.
This came on the heels of accusation by the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, through its Convener, Magajin Rafin Zazzau, Professor Ango Abdullahi that President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to tackle the situation, stating that the crisis is getting worse by the day.
He said the constant attacks by bandits and Boko Haram insurgents shows that the Buhari administration had failed woefully in terms of security and welfare of citizens.
The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, in a tweet also, asked the Federal Government to take affirmative action against insecurity in the north and the nation at large, saying condemnation was not enough.
However, reacting last night, the Presidency described the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, as a mere irritant and featherweight group without credible membership.
The Presidency in a statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, likened NEF to a General without troops.
A coalition of Northern groups, yesterday, bemoaned the growing insecurity in the region and called on the Federal Government to implement sweeping measures.
Read Also:
It asked President Muhammadu Buhari to “immediately relieve the service chiefs of their duties,” saying unless killings in the region stop within 14 days, the coalition would “mobilise citizens to take to streets until the government is completely shut down.”
It recalled how the region “voted President Muhammadu Buhari en mass to power in 2015 in anticipation that as a former military Head of State and a retired General,” he would “deal decisively with all forms of threats to the security of our people, particularly the challenges of Boko Haram.”
But reacting, Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to President Muhammadu Buhari, said the coalition is too insignificant to be taken seriously, alleging that the group is merely a front. “Let the big masquerade that sent them remove his mask. Then, we will respond,” he said.
Similarly, the Kaduna Sate chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), following a meeting where it assessed the security situation in the country, urged Buhari and state governors to admit they have failed security-wise and get help.
State chairman, Reverend Joseph Hayab, in a statement said the chapter is upset over mass killings and the growing insecurity in the region, especially in Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Borno States.
Hundreds of youth across Katsina State on Tuesday converged on Katsina town to protest the killings and wanton destruction by gunmen in their respective localities.
The peaceful protest, convened by Coalition of Northern Group (CNG) and Citizens Participation Against Corruption Initiative, was flagged off at Kofar Soro and concluded at the old Government House, Katsina.
The convener, Jamilu Charanci, said the protest was meant to express dissatisfaction over the government’s failure to deliver on its primary responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens.
Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Mr. Nastura Sharif, has been arrested by the police “in connection” with the protest against the massive killings in the north.
The group held the protest on Tuesday in Katsina, the hotbed of banditry. Similar protests are to hold in other northern state capitals on Saturday, June 20, 2020, according to a statement issued by the group on Monday.
Sharif’s arrest was announced in Kaduna on Wednesday in a statement by Aminu Adam, the group’s Director of Operations.
Adam said Sharif was arrested by the police after “the peaceful protest”.
A former presidential candidate, Dr. Olapade Agoro, said: “Nobody needs to tell the President that he has failed. We have seen the worst of insecurity since he became the President. On security chiefs, nobody needs to tell them to go. They must go if they have conscience without being told. Also, the security vote should be abolished. I don’t know what the security vote is for. It serves no good. It should therefore be abolished.”
Meanwhile, Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, the Yoruba World Congress (YWC) and other ethnic nationalities backed the calls for change in the nation’s security.
The spokesman for Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said the Northern coalition has a valid case, noting: “Killings in Nigeria today are nationwide and little or nothing is being done by the government to contain the development.”
A security scholar at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Prof. Oyesoji Aremu has said,: “The killings in the northern part of the country have not only defied coalitions of military operations, they have shown that there are more to the killings. The orchestrated killings have also shown the failure of intelligence in that part of the country.
The North is upset and President Muhammadu Buhari needs to wake up from slumber.
Arewa Agenda is a publication of young writers from Northern Nigeria towards National Development and Peaceful Coexistence through positive narratives.
