• Activist counsels Buhari on diplomatic handling of crisis
The Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development (CNEPD) has blamed failure of intelligence for the rising insecurity in the South West and parts of the federation.
Reports of terrorists taking over some forests in Oyo State have heightened tension, with many fearing that the situation could spiral if current handling subsists.
According to the senor citizens, the “failings” of the nation’s service chiefs are largely responsible for the inability to check the marauding foreign militias occupying forest reserves in the South West.
“The obvious gap in security gave room for some people to turn to violence to secure themselves, consequently leading to attacks on innocent Fulani like the Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadri, by some youths, allegedly led by one Sunday Adeyemo (aka Igboho),” they noted.
The group argued that had the security chiefs been proactive, the situation would not have degenerated to this abysmal level.The elders reiterated their call to President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the military top shots for new officers with fresh ideas and perspectives.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja by its National Coordinator, Zana Goni, CNEPD said globally, intelligence-led law enforcement was the way out of security challenges.
It claimed that insecurity was worsening in Nigeria due to “lack of capacity by the military high command to evolve new operational strategies to contain the contemporary security challenges confronting the nation.”
The complainants appealed to Hausa/Fulani youths nationwide to remain calm, promising to seek justice for those killed.
RELATEDLY, President Buhari has been urged to handle the herders-farmers impasse with utmost caution for peace to reign in the country.
An outspoken socio-political activist and critic, Chief Adesunbo Onitiri, in a statement yesterday, said the nomads occupying farmlands in Yorubaland and other southern states should also be called to order to avoid needless bloody clashes.
He said: “The forests the herders are forcibly trying to occupy already belong to the natives. Such land cannot be occupied by force. They certainly need the permission of the natives. Force cannot bring peace.”
