BY MARY KUYE
Following the slaughter of 43 rice farmers in Zabarmari village, Borno State on Saturday by Boko Haram, northern human rights activists are unanimously calling for the sack of Nigeria’s military service chiefs.
Rising from their meeting on Tuesday, the activists posited that President Buhari had no choice but to remove the service chiefs with immediate effect.
Signatories to the communique at the end of the meeting are Nastura Ashir Sahriff- Coalition of Northern Group’s Board of Trustees Chairman(Kano), National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Abdul Ahmed Isiaq- (Kaduna), Alhaji Gambo Ibrahim Gugungu, National President of Arewa Youths Forum(Kaduna), Jibril Tafida- (Kaduna).
Others include Engr. Bello Bichi (Kano), Murtala Muhammad(Kaduna), Mandir Guruza, Arch. Mathias Joseph(Plateau), Engr. Ibrahim Ndagi (Niger) and Aminu Saleh(Bauchi) as well as Shetima Yerima, leader of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum.
Communiqué read: “We say enough is enough of these killings of innocent and unarmed civilians in Borno State, brought about by the seeming inability of the nation’s troops stationed in the state to help avoid this kind of massive attacks and killings.
“We categorically call on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the nation’s service chiefs for their inability to save the nation this tragically-embarrassing experience that has dire consequences to our international image.
“It is our conviction that until a major paradigm shift in the security architecture is promptly applied by President Muhammadu Buhari, we will continue with this bad and alarming rounds of the tragic and embarrassing situation.
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“There is also the need for not just total overhaul of the security architecture in Borno but also the outdated intelligence-gathering method. The time to end this madness and now, the nation can’t afford to wait any longer.
“We commiserate with the families of the farmers who were killed while trying to legitimately earn a living. Our heartfelt condolences go to the entire people and government of Borno State.”
