Northern elders have blamed the festering insecurity in the country, especially in the North-east and North-west geopolitical zones, on some leaders and elders of the region whom they said, saw the danger in the beginning of the crisis but refused to say the truth.
In a statement, Friday, the National Coordinator, Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, Engr. Goni Zana, traced the origin of heightened insecurity in the North to the appointments made by President Buhari in the security circle with little consideration for professionalism and proven competence.
The statement read in part: “As difficult as it is in speaking the truth, we feel constrained to admit that our quick resort to religious, ethnic and regional considerations led us to advise the president in wrong directions.
“The war against insecurity could have been a thing of the past if we had made good and informed decisions. We believe the complete consideration of our interest in making appointments into security agencies among other things led us to this present situation. Our decision resulted in deep drop in the pursuit of the war against terrorists thus emboldened the adversaries on the other hand.
“However, we wish to once again raise alarm over the deteriorating state of security in the North, we have been crying and will continue to cry until the situation gets better.
“We are losing it as a country and Mr President needs to take extra steps before we are consumed. The rate at which we are going if nothing is done, within the shortest possible time; we may not have a country to call our own.
“If we continue to make security appointments based on religious and ethnic sentiments, we won’t get it right.
“We urge Nigerians to believe in their country and work for its betterment because we have just one country and nobody will build our nation for us. We all have equal stake in the Nigerian project.”
