In demanding Monguno’s sack, the youths say more Nigerians have been killed between January and June 2022 than the entire casualty of the Ukraine/Russia war,
By Anthony Musa, Abuja
A group of northern youths operating under the umbrella of Arewa Youth Assembly have demanded the immediate resignation of the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongunu or his immediate sack by the President.
The Youths said it was alarming that more Nigerians have been killed between January and June 2022 than the entire casualty of the Ukraine/Russia war, saying it was.an indication that the NSA has ran out of ideas on how to address the security challenges in the country.
The youths who carried placards with various inscriptions said they were protesting the astronomic increase in the cases of unprovoked killings and kidnap of Nigerians in their farms, houses, train and our major highways which has led to unprecedented rise in poverty rate and food scarcity across the country.
Spokesman of the group, Aliyu Mohammed said “he Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), a project of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) of the United States, at the weekend revealed that activities of violent non-state actors had claimed no fewer than 5,222 lives nationwide between January and June 2022 alone.This figure is almost higher than casualties recorded in Ukraine that is officially at war with Russia.
“We are aware that the government, under the Leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has procured more weapons than any other Government in our recent history in response to the security challenges bedeviling our country.
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“However, Nigerians have not been killed, kidnapped and desecrated like today. It is an ironic case of the more the security budget, the more Nigerians are killed and kidnapped.
“In order to halt the speedy slide to total anarchy, Nigerians raised their voices in unison and called for the sack of heads of the then Service Chiefs, which Mr President graciously granted and replaced them with new ones. Nigerians expected to see major improvement in the security situation of the country, but reverse was the case.
“The criminal elements became emboldened, and were able to derailed a moving train, killed some of its passengers and kidnapped numerous others.
“They equally ambushed and killed some officers of the Brigade of Guard to Mr President and also issued notice of their resolve to kidnap our President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State. This is unfortunate and unimaginable in the history of nationhood.
“Just recently, Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State wrote a Memo to President Muhammadu Buhari informing him of parallel government has been formed in his State.
“This, also is in concordance with the similar situation in Southern part of the Country where citizens are not allowed to come out on Mondays to pursue their businesses, thereby, further impoverishing them. All these is because there is serious defect in the Security Architecture of our Country.
“It is on the strength of the above background that we are compelled to converge here to add our voices to those of others in drawing the world attention to ceaseless ocean of blood that is flowing in our country.
“The National Security Adviser is either not advising Mr President well or his Ideas are infective, hence, the seeming triumph of ragtag elements over our Armed Forces. We therefore call for his immediate resignation or be sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari
“The security of this nation should unconditionally be improved from its present state to a satisfactory one and all Nigerians in captivity should be fought for and set free, unconditionally.
“We are calling off the protest today, to accord appropriate time for Mr President to act accordingly, and if after two days nothing is done, the protest will continue, not only here, but in all the 19 Northern states.”
