A coalition of Northern elders has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately show the service chiefs the exit door before the nation’s security situation got out of hand.
It also urged the president to overhaul the nation’s security architecture.
The coalition acting under the aegis of Coalition of Concern Northern Elders for Peace and Development made the appeals in a Monday statement.
In the statement signed by its National Chairman, Dr. Mohammed Suleiman and National Secretary, Hajiya Mairo Buni, the coalition expressed worry that Buhari has yet to act on the resolutions of the two arms of the National Assembly recommending the sack of the service chiefs.
The coalition further lamented that women and children, especially in the North-East and North-West, have continued to suffer needlessly due to the worsening security situation.
The coalition said the worsening security situation would make nonsense of the 2021 Budget that the president recently presented before the National Assembly.
It said that the service chiefs have shown they have nothing new to offer in the fight against terrorists and bandits and must be replaced speedily.
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“We are compelled by the current state of the nation especially as it affects the security of lives and property in Nigeria particularly in the North to issue this press statement.
“This Coalition became very necessary and urgent to lend our voice to the growing insecurity and call for the sack of the current service chiefs and total overhaul of the security architecture of our country before it is too late.
“We are worried about President Muhammadu Buhari’s silence despite call by every arm of Nigeria including the National Assembly who are the representatives of the people,” the statement read in part.
“Some international organisations and authorities have faulted our security architecture and called for the need to restructure same yet Mr President is still not moved?” the coalition queried.
The Northern elders asked if the president was waiting for “all Nigerians to die first”.
The statement further read, “In a constitutional democracy the people are the employer of the president and for a president to write his name on gold, he must listen to the people.
“We in this group insist that President Buhari is a good man that mean very well for Nigeria and Nigerians but we strongly believe that he is being misled on a daily basis in the happenings of the security.
“No Nigerian sleeps with his eyes closed anymore. Our roads and homes are no longer safe because of robbery, kidnapping, banditry and Boko Haram terrorists.
“Food security is being threatened in the North West because of bandits who have been depriving farmers of going to their farms.
“The deteriorating plights of women and children in North East is on steady increase.”
According to the coalition, “Apart from Maiduguri town, there is no community in Borno State where our people can sleep with their eyes closed.
“Malnutrition is the order of the day in IDPs’ camps across North East. Investors are leaving the country on daily basis because of insecurity. This is dangerous for our economic projections of 2021. No country can fund its budget effectively in the midst of insecurity like Nigeria.
“We wish to use this measure to let our president know that Nigerians are really tired of excuses from the service chiefs. Their continuous retention is not doing the country any good.
“What is so special about them that they cannot be sacked? Isn’t it obvious that they have lost ideas, tired and are no longer in control “We are convinced that they are out of ideas that can change the game in the security of the nation, hence the proper thing for the president to do Is to sack them without further delay.
“We call on the president to take this first step and follow it up with restructuring the entire security architecture of the country for utmost results.
“ Nigerians, especially the youths are tired of the level of insecurity in the country. The large turnout by youths on the End SARS campaign across the country is an indication that Nigerians are tired of excuses.
“We are therefore appealing to president Muhammad Buhari to as a matter of urgency, begin the restructuring of the country’s security architecture starting from the sack of these tired service chiefs and replace them with younger and more committed officers.
“Nigerians are fed up with the current level of insecurity. It is on this note that we issue this statement to express our concerns for the nation and the need for Mr president to act soon.”