The Northern Advocacy for Peace, (NAP), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately remove all heads of the military intelligence units and take further decisive actions to stop the widespread Boko Haram/ ISWAP and bandits’ attacks on communities across the country.
The group, in an issued statement signed by its Convener, Ambassador Khalifa Shu’aibu, particularly pointed out the failure of intelligence-gathering to the massacre of 30 soldiers and policemen in Shiroro local government area of Niger State.
The group decried the rising spate of bandit attacks, widespread kidnappings and general insecurity in the country, calling on the president to act now and save the country. “The current mechanism used for gathering intelligence and acting upon it has failed woefully. Boko Haram and bandits in large numbers operate freely for many hours without any counter-response from the military. Effective intelligence gathering would trace their movement because they are usually in large numbers”, it stated.
The NAP explained that the manner bandits have operated in the last quarter of the year indicates a total failure in the intelligence unit of the military, saying, “It suggests a complete breakdown of intelligence-gathering, a sell-out by the unit, poor evaluation of intelligence, or the inability of the military to respond swiftly to available intelligence provided”. “This nation cannot continue to depend on unpatriotic elements who have failed in securing the nation”, it emphasised.
The group maintained that in the last seven years, President Buhari has approved huge financial interventions in the security sector, leading to the purchase of modern technology combat weapons for the security agencies, and wondered why with such weaponry, the nation’s armed forces have been unable to get rid of Boko Haram/ISWAP and banditry in the country. It warned that if the military does not rise up swiftly to nip the insecurity in the country in the bud, the latest attacks on churches might be a ploy by enemies of the country to plunge the nation into a religious war.
“Terrorists have been attacking and kidnapping priests. Recently, in Kujama LGA, a Reverend Father was shot on his farm. Similarly, the lifeless body of another Reverend father was found on a farmland behind the Catechetical Training School, Malumfashi, in Katsina State. The Owo Church attack is still fresh in memory”, the statement noted.
Ambassador Shu’aibu insisted that insecurity has rather risen in the last few months with more daring attacks. “This calls for President Buhari to take determined action maintaining that the security architecture needs to be urgently restructured. We have called on Mr. President in the past to sack service chiefs and shake up the intelligence gathering in the military. Today, we have more reasons to be vehement and vociferous in this demand. The President must act now”, the statement added.
