From Okwe Obi, Abuja

Following the abduction of secondary school students in Katsina, security experts under the aegis of Coalition for Peace and National Security (CPNS) have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to sack federal security service chiefs.

The group’s National Coordinator, Dr Mohammed Maigoro and its National Secretary, Tunde Funsho, in a statement Saturday, noted that the Katsina school abductions are reminiscent of the Chibok Girls who were similarly taken from their hostels over 7 years ago.

Maigoro charged security personnel to swing into action, fish out the abductors and use them as experimental guinea pigs.

The statement reads:

‘We received the news of yesterday’s attack on Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State, where at least 600 out of 800 students of the school are reportedly missing with shock.

‘This latest action by bandits is a sad reminder of the past similar ones on Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014, where 276 girls writing West African Examination Council, WAEC, were abducted and another attack on February 19, 2018, at
Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, in Yobe State that left some students dead and others missing.

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‘This attack on innocent school children is not only cowardly but also callous and a crime against humanity, prohibited under the international humanitarian law.

‘We urged the security agencies to immediately swing into action in not only rescuing the missing students but also apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

‘This latest development is a yet another confirmation that the country is porous without security and given this bad situation, we wish to without any hesitation join the clarion call on our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari, to immediately rejig the nation’s security architecture beginning with the sack of service chiefs who apart from overstaying in office, have become exhausted to face the increasingly worsening security situation of our country.

‘There is no indication anywhere that they are capable of turning the tide against terrorists, insurgents, bandits and kidnappers any more, given the daily ugly security developments in the country.

‘The president should at this moment be more concerned about the security of Nigerians who he swore an oath to protect by listening to the increasing calls by well-meaning Nigerians including the National Assembly that he changes the service chiefs and completely overhaul the security architecture for efficiency.

‘We call on him to be more concerned about this than regime protection as everyone has embraced democracy with no one reasoning along that line anymore.

‘Many people have been mauled down unjustly with an unquantifiable number of public and private assets destroyed in the past few months and this development should be a thing of great concern to a president that swore a sacred oath to protect his people and the country.

Related: Katsina school attack: Buhari orders army, police to go after bandits, rescue students