A coalition of Northern Youth Groups under the aegis of Northern Ethnic Group Assembly (NEYGA) has condemned the killing of 42 travelers by “unrepentant bandits” at Gidan Bawa in Sokoto State, while calling for the removal of National Security Adviser Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd.).
The group lamented the worsening state of insecurity in the country describing the incident as one that “cannot be forgotten in a hurry.”
In a statement issued Wednesday by the group’s spokesperson, Alhaji Ibrahim Dan-Musa, NEYGA said Nigeria has been turned into a killing field by bandits who are terrorizing the country while innocent civilians looking for their daily bread are forced to live in perpetual fear.
The group expressed astonishment at the audacity and success of these terrorists groups “prospering in their evil enterprise on a daily basis across the country.”
It said that the advancement of terror groups on a daily basis in Nigeria is a clear indication that the nation is in grave danger, adding that the Sokoto killings reveal the gross failure of the Nigeria government in intelligence gathering and sharing among the various security apparatus under the watch of the National Security Adviser Monguno.
Monguno’s body language, Dan-Musa said, shows that “he is only interested in power and more power and acquisitions of properties instead of intelligent gathering.”
“Virtually all parts of Nigeria are currently battling with one form of insecurity or the other with various crimes going on, largely unabated.
“Despite attempts by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to curb the rising criminalities and killings across the country, the nation’s security apparatus under Monguno appears to be overwhelmed with criminals maiming and extorting their victims.
“The Nigeria Police Force is poorly funded and motivated, and the military, which is fighting a decade-long insurgency in the North-east, appears to be at the end of their wits on how to curtail the downward spiral in security”, the statement said.
The group noted that swathes of the North-west have virtually been taken over by rampaging bandits who kidnap for ransom and kill victims who cannot pay for their freedom.
The North-central, the group added, “is not free from the deadly assaults by these bandits, and kidnap gangs who now operate freely in parts of Niger, Kogi and Nasarawa are making it into the Federal Capital Territory.”
The group said the North-east is yet to experience peace as Boko Haram insurgents are in a deadly battle of supremacy daily with the nation’s military in a bid to carve out an Islamic state.
“Now largely ‘degraded’ as stated by federal officials, and focusing more on soft targets and solitary military formations, the insurgents still carry out attacks in a bid to terrorize the numerous communities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa”, NEYGA said.
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