Insecurity: Northern group unhappy with Shettima

Insecurity: Northern group unhappy with Shettima

A frontline civil society group, Northern Citizens Investigative Platform, has called out Vice President Kashim Shettima over what it termed as Federal Government’s poor response to the killings, abductions and displacements of citizens in Northern states

The call followed the latest string of “heart-wrenching attacks and abductions across Ngoshe, Konduga, Marte, Jakana, and Mainok” in Borno State.

In a statement on Sunday on behalf of the NCIP chapters of the 19 Northern states, Comrade IG Wala said there must be transparent and time-bound plan to restore peace in the region.

It said government must move from issuing polished press releases to comprehensive action, noting that places like Borno state have remained killing fields of innocent citizens.

“For over a decade, the people of the Northeast have known Kashim Shettima. We knew him as a Governor for eight years as Boko Haram metastasized. We know him now as the Vice President. But the madness of insurgency in our region has not been cured by this recognition,” the statement added.

The NCIP said what the region needs urgently are strategies that can deliver collective peace not rhetoric.

The organisation particularly noted that Shettima, being the highest ranking officer in the government from the North, must be seen to lead beyond the mere statements that followed attacks and displacement of citizens.

“The time for reaching out and deploring attacks is over. We demand a transparent, time-bound report on the tactical assets being deployed. We demand to know why the security architecture in the North continues to fail despite your intimate, decade-long knowledge of these terrains.

“Vice President Shettima, the North knows you as a son. But until that knowledge translates into the safety of our mothers and the return of our children, your leadership is nothing more than a name without a benefit,” the group stated.