Buhari in charge, stop blame game, Ndume tells southern govs

Chairman Senate Committee on Army Senator Ali Ndume has accused the Southern Governors Forum (SSF) of engaging in blame game by calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to address Nigeria’s security lapses.

The lawmaker also faulted the forum’s ban on open grazing, describing it as a deviation from the real issues.

At the end of their meeting in Asaba, Delta state capital Tuesday, the southern governors, who backed the nation’s unity, also asked Buhari to address the nation even as they voted for a ban on open grazing. 

But countering the governors at a media parley Wednesday in Abuja, Senator Ndume said as chief security officers of their various states, the governors should  know what to do to arrest the growing spate of insecurity across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

 “As far as I am concerned, this blame game will not solve the problem. Governors are the Chief Security Officers of their states, so, why are they talking about the President without talking about themselves?

 “The governors are deviating from the matter. The problem is not about open grazing. The problem is security. Most of the security problems confronting Nigeria are not in the bush.

 “We have four different types of security challenges. We have the insurgency in the North-East, IPOB, through the Eastern Security Network, is creating insecurity in the South-East. There is banditry in the North-West.

“It is only in the North-Central that we have issues of farmers-herders clashes. There are fewer problems in the South-West except for the clashes between the herdsmen and the farmers, and the agitators for the Yoruba nation.

“Similarly, in the South-South, they are trying to instigate the Avengers but so far the area is peaceful. The issue of insecurity is unique to each zone. President Buhari has taken charge of the security personally now.

“It used to be the Chief of Staff or the Minister of Defence who was having meetings with the Service Chiefs but today, the President has taken charge of the problem.

“That is a good development and I hope we would start seeing results but the most important thing is for them to be provided with necessary equipment to prosecute the war and their allowances should be paid in time,” the lawmaker said.

He lauded the military for stopping Boko Haram insurgents from infiltrating Maiduguri Tuesday night.

 “I commend the armed forces operating in Maiduguri for their gallant response to the attack by the Boko Haram.

“On Tuesday evening, around 6pm, a group of Boko Haram insurgents wanted to infiltrate Maiduguri but the armed forces responded swiftly and repelled the insurgents.

“I understand that most of the insurgents were killed. The Army, Airforce, Police and the Civilian JTF, played a very significant role in repelling the insurgents.

“If such reaction from the armed forces is sustained, the insurgents would be repelled whenever they surface anywhere in the North-East. We pray that this month of Ramadan will bring peace to our country,” Ndume said.

Southern senators back govs

On the contrary, the Southern Senators Forum (SSF)) is throwing their weight behind the governors’ resolutions.

Their position was contained in a jointly signed statement by the SSF Chairman, Secretary General and Publicity Secretary, Senators Opeyemi Bamidele (APC Ekiti Central), Mathew Uroghide (PDP Edo South) and Chukwuka Utazi (PDP Enugu North) respectively, and made available to journalists in Abuja and Ado Ekiti Wednesday.

The forum applauded the step taken by the governors, saying it would serve as a buffer to wanton destruction of farmlands, kidnappings and carnages.

 The senators submitted that such deft and unanimous policy would help in reining in those hiding under cattle grazing to unleash terror of kidnapping and killing on the residents of the region.

They lamented how farmers in the region were losing hundreds of millions of Naira to plundering of food crops through encroachments on farmlands and exposing the region to famine and acute food scarcity.

 They said: “At this critical point of our national life when the economy was being bedevilled by galloping inflation, youth unemployment and insecurity, food security is very crucial to mitigate the effects of these diverse evils on the citizens.

 “Available records have shown that attaining food security status would remain a mirage in the south owing to ravaging effect of outdated livestock grazing policy being unleashed on farmlands by some unscrupulous herders.

 “Most appalling were the seemingly unabated kidnapping, raping and killing of our people by suspected herdsmen, who have become bandits heating up the system.

 “With this uniform resolve by our Governors to initiate no-open grazing policy, the region will return to its peaceful and agriculturally self -sufficient status it had assumed even long before Nigeria’s amalgamation in 1914.”

 They saluted the governors for ruminating on the expediency and the need for speedy restructuring of the highly lopsided Nigerian nation, saying this would also help to remove the venom that had permeated the land on account of alleged neglect of certain sections of the country.

 The SSF leaders stated that “ushering of  equality , equity and justice in the way the country is being run will wipe out ethnic tension , restore  peace and stability and ward off agitations for secession that are now gaining tractions across the land.”

 The forum encouraged the governors to swiftly follow up on their resolutions by immediately approaching the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to working  with the two arms of the parliament to ensure  their well- articulated positions on the state of the nation, “especially as it relates to restructuring, state policing and the jettisoning of archaic traditional grazing methods, which fall short of global best practice standard and a potential threat to our national cohesion and peace, are thoroughly and decisively addressed through the ongoing constitutional review exercise.”

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