BEING THE TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE YOUNG PROGRESSIVES PARTY, COMRADE BISHOP EMMANUEL AMAKIRI ON STATE OF THE NATION ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2020 AT THE NATIONAL SECRETARIAT, ABUJA.
All protocols duly ascertained!
Permit me to crave your indulgence for a minute silence in honour of the 43 farmers recently killed in Zabarmari, Borno State, and other Nigerians including our military men who have been killed owing to the incompetence of the government in the last five years to tackle banditry, insurgency, terrorism, killer herdsmen and other security challenges.
- The senseless gruesome murder of over 43 farmers in Zabarmari, Borno State has brought again to the fore the need for urgent intervention by all critical stakeholders in project Nigeria so as to nip in the bud the rising spate of insecurity in the nation. It’s time for President Muhammadu Buhari to jettison the idea of mixing politics with governance and seek help outside his political party since the task of nation-building is a multi-stakeholder obligation.
- The fact that fellow citizens from some parts of the country now need to get military clearance according to the presidency to go to their farms is a clear indication that it won’t be long before the rest of us as Nigerians will be subjected to such conditions before we can go to our places of work, move from one place to another, send our children to school or even sleep at night.
- Even more worrisome is the insensitivity of President Mohammadu Buhari led APC in addressing the obviously degenerating security situation, which has led to the untimely death and displacement of thousands of innocent Nigerians. It’s indeed sad that due to this high-level insensitivity in responding to our security challenges, Nigeria is currently ranked as the third most terrorized nation in the world.
- The security and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose and responsibility of any responsible government as any other thing is secondary, however, this government has failed in this fundamental responsibility.
- The current security situation is getting worse by the day and doesn’t look like abating anytime soon owing to the lack of political will by President Mohammed Buhari and members of his party, the APC, to do the needful. How else can you explain the rationale for retaining the same set of service chiefs in the last five years under whose watch hundreds are daily being slaughtered, maimed, raped or kidnapped for ransom in a country that is not at war?
- A bigger problem is looming if we don’t act on time as the effect of our farmers’ inability to go to their farms due to being targeted by the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists and bandits in most parts of the north will most likely lead to unprecedented nationwide food shortage with all its attendant consequences such as hunger, malnutrition and death.
- The question begging for an answer today is whose interest is President Muhammadu Buhari supposed to be protecting, that of Nigerians or his service chiefs?
YPP IMMEDIATE DEMANDS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
a) We call on the Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari based on his promise made in 2014 at Chatham house that he will lead from the front in the fight against insurgency to declare a national security emergency and immediately sack all service chiefs in adherence to the nationwide outcry due to the worsening state of insecurity in the country in spite progressive increase in budgetary allocations to defence in the last five years.
b) We also call on the National Assembly to stop playing to the gallery and start taking concrete steps in ending the daily senseless killings by defending the very citizens who have given them the mandate of representation. To this end, we urge the commencement of impeachment process against President Mohammed Buhari should he refuse to adhere to the collective voice of Nigerians that the service chiefs should be sacked.
c) It’s time for the country to be restructured with emphasis on the devolution of powers to the component units so that States with requisite capacity can begin to have State Police in order to be able to solve peculiar challenges as the continued centralized policing system is no longer sustainable considering the worsening state of insecurity.
d) There should be an independent audit of Military spendings at least in the last decade to ascertain the immediate and remote reasons why after a decade of fighting insurgency and terrorism, military men are constantly being killed in their numbers in the line of duty amidst complaints of inadequate equipment to confront insurgents whom in most cases have been confirmed to have more sophisticated weapons than our military.
e) The government should improve on her human rights records, which has been at an abysmal low in the last 5 years by releasing all illegally detained citizens, stop trying to intimidate or gag the media, stop every dictatorial attempt to suppress peaceful protests or freedom of speech and start obeying the rule of law so as to attract cooperation and willingness from friendly nations to sell us ammunition or forge an international alliance in the fight against terrorism and insurgency.
f) With the high rate of youth unemployment, investment in the real sector of the economy has become sacrosanct. Even though we acknowledge the efforts of the government through several CBN interventions, it’s only a drop in the ocean when compared to the massive army of unemployed youths. The government should take deliberate steps to drastically reduce the cost of governance and channel savings to invest in the real sector of the economy, education, and health.
Conclusively, President Mohammadu Buhari and his party, the APC, can either continue to pretend that the nationwide insecurity is exaggerated or patriotic enough to embrace the truth and implement the above-recommended solutions in order to have an immediate reprieve.
Thanks.
Long Live the Young Progressives Party!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!
Signed:
Comrade Bishop Amakiri
National Chairman.
