A Coalition of 52 Northern Groups , Condemns the escalation of attacks and killings by terrorists in Northern communities.
The Group disclosed on Thursday that the continue killings by bandits confirms the failure of the federal and state governments to secure the lives and property of Nigerians
The CNG said the recent burning to death of 23 travelers at Anguwan Bawa in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of of Sokoto State by bandits, attacks of ISWAP in the North East and the unabated phenomenon of banditry along Abuja-Kaduna Highway as well as school abductions had exposed the helplessness of the government.
The organisation warned that a further escalation of the security challenges bedeviling the North would pose existential threats not only to the region but to the whole nation.
The Spokesperson of CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, expressed these during a press briefing in Abuja.
According to him, the government’s slow response to killings suggested that it was not disturbed by the loss of the lives of its citizens.
Suleiman said, “The CNG is agitated by the recent unchecked escalation of attacks and killings across Northern Nigerian communities, cities, towns and highways that has literally exposed the entire region to the mercy of Boko Haram-ISWAP insurgents to the North East, and ruthless banditry and kidnapping rings to the North West and North Central.
“At the risk of overstating the case, we can unhesitatingly assert that already, Nigeria’s vast land borders with its northern neighbours have been completely overrun by assortments of armed criminal gangs turning them into dangerous conduits for drugs, arms, smugglers, illegal immigrants and foreign fighters from countries in the troubled Sahel region.
“The CNG notes that the following recent escalations of attacks, killings and kidnappings while the presidency appears in total isolation or in deep denial by constantly flaunting victory in the face of glaring failure, has reached an unacceptable and an intolerable point where the urgent citizen action remains the only option.
“In the light of the above, the CNG has inadvertently arrived at the following inevitable observations and inferences: That the federal and state governments in the North have woefully failed in the vital area of providing security of lives and properties to citizens, especially in northern Nigeria, where the ruling All Progressives Congress extracted the bulk of its votes in the 2015 and 2019 rounds of elections.
“That the escalation of the security challenges bedeviling the North today are not only existential threats to the region but to the whole nation with our very fragile democracy threatened by the worst insecurity of our lifetime.
“The glaring inability to secure the borders, forests and highways in northern Nigeria are partly a result of incapacity, absence of political will, defence corruption and bad governance.
“In recognition of the enormity of these security and socioeconomic challenges, the CNG has resolved to embark on a massive mobilisation of all men and women of goodwill in the region and beyond, to raise their voices to give voice to our voiceless people.
“Consequently, the CNG has resolved to organise a Mega Pan Northern Nigerian Summit under the chairmanship of the convener of the Northern Elders Forum, Professor Ango Abdullahi to look into and proffer definite solutions to the security challenges in the region.”
According to him, the summit billed to hold in Abuja would involve critical stakeholders.
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