Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki has lamented the spate of killings in Zamfara state. Saraki said that the killings in the state should be seen as a ‘major threat’ to the country’s democracy.
According to the Senate president in a statement on Thursday, no part of the country should be held hostage, and as such, the security architecture should be overhauled.
We should look at the Zamfara killings as a major threat to our democracy — particularly as we move towards the general elections in the next 50 days. We should not allow criminal elements to take over parts of our country.
The situation in Zamfara State is an example of why we need to overhaul our security architecture in order to bring it to a state where it can effectively tackle emerging threats and challenges.
Saraki said proper evaluation of the state should be done, in order to know the actual situation of things.
There is need for proper profiling of the situation in Zamfara so that we can know whether it is cattle rustling; vicious armed robbery on a large scale; a religious/ethnic crisis; or, an invasion by foreign forces.
Our security agencies must immediately come out with a proper understanding of the situation, the right strategy and deployment of the necessary troops to tackle the menace.
He noted further that ‘strong signals’ must be issued to the criminals within the next coming days. He added that President Muhammadu Buhari must take full responsibility of the situation, should as the former President, Goodluck Jonathan was asked to, in 2014.
He added that Buhari must widen the consultation within the armed forces on the search for solutions to the Zamfara killings.
Within the next few days, we must send strong signals to the criminals in Zamfara State that the Nigeria will no longer tolerate the on-going bloodletting.
Mr. President has to take full & direct control. Mr. President must widen the consultation within the armed forces on the search for solutions to the Zamfara killings. He must go beyond the first line military top brass. We need to get ideas from more sources than we presently do
In 2014, I remember that President Jonathan was told:
“You control the Armed Forces and you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, why should any part of the country be under occupation by criminals.”Why should we not apply the same logic to the occurrence in Zamfara?
Just as we also flayed the pre-2015 government, the situation in Zamfara presents a picture of the government denying the citizens their fundamental rights to life and rights to own property. The government must correct this by stopping the carnage in Zamfara immediately.
