President Buhari of Nigeria appears to have no further ideas about managing heightened insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation
Following the horrid slaughtering of rice farmers in Borno State despite the army claiming that Boko Haram has been degraded, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has hit hard at President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) regime, which he leads. The PDP said it is now obvious that Buhari and his government have become helpless as the nation’s security deteriorates to all-time low.
The PDP in a statement titled, “PDP Condemns Beheading of Farmers By Insurgents…Tasks Buhari to Sit Up on Security,” and signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party equally condemned the gruesome murder of 40 rice farmers in Borno by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
“The PDP condemns in the strongest terms, the gruesome beheading of 43 innocent farmers by insurgents in Zabarmari, Borno State. The party describes the act as extremely wicked, devilish and must not be left unaddressed. The PDP notes with pain that this horrific killing of compatriots comes as yet another of the recurring horrid testament and badge of failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration to secure our nation and guarantee the safety of lives and property in our country.
“Indeed, our party is distressed by the escalated killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians by insurgents, bandits and marauders, who have continued to ravage and pillage our communities, while the lazy and lethargic Buhari administration continues with its lip service, rhetoric and false performance claims. The PDP is particularly disturbed because of the failure of the Buhari Presidency to take decisive action despite series of concerns raised by Borno State governor, Baba Gana Zulum, of security compromises in the state.
“The Buhari administration appears helpless while our national security structure under President Buhari seems to have collapsed. Our nation appears to be on autopilot with no one in charge while the ship of state continues to drift.
“All our nation gets from the Buhari Presidency is that ‘Mr. President is shocked’, ‘Mr. President is saddened’, ‘Mr. President regrets’ and such lame responses without any decisive policy direction or directive to definitively tackle the situation at hand, leading to escalation of killings in our country.
“Such attitude by the Buhari administration has continued to embolden insurgents to the extent that they now attack military formations, convoys of state governors and engage in the wanton beheading of our compatriots,” the statement added.
The PDP further said it was distressing that despite this sorry situation, the President, who promised to lead from the front, has ‘receded into the safety of Aso Presidential villa and refused to act on the consistent demands of Nigerians to rejig the national security architecture and replace the service chiefs with more capable hands to affectively tackle our security challenges. The party charged the president to end what it called his unhelpful rhetoric, sit up and take actions that will safeguard the lives of Nigerians who have been subjected to all manners of mental and physical torture under this incompetent administration.
It challenged the President to immediately move to Zabarmari in Borno State, empathize with the families of the victims and lead from the front in restoring security in the area. While expressing its condolences to the government and people of Borno State, the PDP urged residents to remain vigilant and assist the military with the necessary information required to end the Boko Haram menace.
