Group faults Northern elders, Afenifere over comments on insecurity

By Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

A group, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has faulted the allegations of government complicity in killings in some parts of the country.
The group said in a statement by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke that senior citizens, many of whom are in their eighties, should not be making unverifiable claims.
It also accused the sectional leaders who converged on Abuja recently of playing the ostrich at a time they should join hands with the Buhari administration to end the bloodletting.
According to the BMO, “Any one accusing President Buhari of not doing anything is simply playing to the gallery as, only a few days ago, the Presidency released a list of 22 security measures the government had taken to combat all forms of criminality and banditry in the country.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the army launched operation Ayem Akpatuma covering seven states including Benue and Nasarawa states to stem the tide of herdsmen/farmers clashes and later deployed air assets including combat helicopters in Benue, Taraba and Zamfara to support the fight against banditry.
“Only this month, the President approved the establishment of Operation WHIRL STROKE II, for deployment in Zamfara and Kaduna States,” the group said.
BMO also recalled that the Police only recently took the fight to Boko Haram camps in Borno and Yobe states where 22 insurgents including sub-commanders and 8 suspected abductors of over 200 Chibok Girls in 2014 were arrested.
Rather than regurgitate same tales they had been pushing out, BMO noted that the elders should avoid a path that would open them up to ridicule especially as they were beneficiaries in the old patronage system.
“It is a known fact that some of those who gathered in Abuja benefitted from the sleaze of recent past, including funds meant for security issues. Now they are turning around to condemn acts that they were indirectly responsible for.
“We challenge them to outline clear efforts they made in the past to foster peaceful relations in places now affected by crisis that have roots in age-long ethnic rivalries”, it said
It noted that it was surprising that senior citizens who should be involved in the search for peace in places where there are communal crisis prefer to play politics by throwing blames to the government at the centre.
The group also urged Nigerians to prepare for more anti-Buhari rhetorics from such groups in coming months, especially as the 2019 elections are only a few months away.