From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The kidnap of over 400 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Kastina when President Muahammadu Buhari is spending his holidays in the state is scandalous and depressing says the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity).
According to the group, the callous action of the bandits coming 10 days after the gruesome execution of farmers at Zabarmari in Borno State was a scary reflection of the painful reality that Nigeria and her government can no longer secure the lives of the vulnerable in the country.
The NAS Capoon, Mr Abiola Owoaje in a press statement titled “Kankara Pupils: An Abduction Too Many!” said “the brazenness of the attack as well as others before it makes the call for to secure the northern region and Nigeria increasingly urgent.”
He berated Buhari for spurning an invitation to the House of Representatives saying it is an indication of the disdain his government hold Nigerians.
The statement read in part “One of the pivotal responsibilities of government is the protection of lives and property of citizens but the President Buhari led administration, disappointingly continues to spectacularly fail in doing this. It is gravely embarrassing that there seems to be incompetence and cluelessness manifesting in the token actions and unforgivable inactions of the government and its security leadership which is gradually and dangerously pushing the country to the brink of anarchy”
“The Kankara incident has provided another opportunity for the Buhari government to arrest this drift into a failed state. Therefore, we reiterate our call that the replacement of the Service Chiefs to inject a new thinking and critical urgency in matters of security can no longer be ignored. We strongly recommend that the time has come to redouble efforts towards achieving a proactive and multi-agency approach to solving these incessant security challenges in our country by the immediate re-organisation of the operational architecture of our security and intelligence services.
“More importantly, the federal government working with northern governors must urgently convene a security summit to find a lasting solution to the underlying issues and factors that breed banditry and insurgency in Northern Nigeria.
“Nigerians are weary of empty assurances of tackling the security situation in the country. Now is the time for President Buhari to act if he means well for the country. This brazen kidnapping right on the doorstep of the President while he is safely holidaying in his country home is a direct assault and insult on the Commander- in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It is our fervent wish that this shocks the federal government out of inertia and into rising to the occasion to rescue these children, capture and bring the kidnappers to justice, carry out a decisive and definitive security operation to #SecureTheNorth and effectively curb the troubling insecurity across Nigeria, then face the root causes of the insurgency decisively which mainly borders around lack of development, opportunities, education and social support.”