Insecurity: Excuses from service chiefs annoying – N’East elders

Elders from the North-East geopolitical zone have berated the service chiefs for worsening insecurity in the region.

The elders spoke in a statement over the weekend titled, “We are tired of excuses, sack service chiefs now” and signed by the chairman, Mr. Zana Goni under the aegis of Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development (CNEEPD).

According to them, President Muhammadu Buhari must do the needful as the excuses constantly offered by the service chiefs have become untenable.

The elders said it was high time the president listened to the voice of the majority of Nigerians by implementing the recent res­olution of both chambers of the National Assembly asking him to rejig the country’s security architecture.

Read Also: “Obaseki busy rigging while raising false alarm” – APC rejects Edo guber result

The elders noted that they have been silent all this while hoping that things would get better, adding that their silence had been misconstrued by other sections of the country due to the service chiefs’ geographical background.

“But we have seen that in spite of the funding of the military by our dear President and the assurances by our service chiefs that things would change, nothing seems to have happened in that direction. This is regrettable.

“The worsening security situation in the country is further reinforcing 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.

“There is no denying the fact that at this moment, the entire nation is distressed by the incessant mind­less killing of our 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 Nigerian citizens.

“Following these,we, the Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development, in the strongest terms, restate the call to Pres­ident Muhammadu Buhari to honor the resolution of the National Assembly and positions of majority of Nigerians to im­mediately remove the service chiefs and bring in new hands to effectively confront the secu­rity challenges starring us in our face as a nation,” the statement read in part.