Jama’atu Nasril Islam ( JNI), the apex Muslim organisation in Nigeria, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, has expressed concern over the government’s apparent inability to confront the security situation in parts of Nigeria.
It noted that its position was reinforced by the government’s inaction to hold erring security officials responsible, saying that there was a clear essence of lack of accountability.
In a statement signed by Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, the JNI Secretary-General noted that in all climes, the government is essentially in place to protect and safeguard human life from being killed, adding that Chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution unambiguously affirms that human life is sacrosanct.
It explained that it is utterly disgusting, heartrending and unprecedented the waylaying of unarmed innocent and defenceless passengers and their subsequent burning beyond recognition by the heartless and rampaging bandits at Gidan Bawa village, in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
According to the statement, “the government isn’t perturbed and no concrete action is seemed to have been taken,” saying that even the media outcry is trifled, compared to similar incidences in other parts of Nigeria.
The JNI added that from all indications, despite the establishment of combined security forces along known routes where bandits operate, they still carry out their dastardly acts freely.
The statement lamented that the government had been unable to halt the operations of bandits against innocent citizens, particularly in North-Western Nigeria, adding that it is compelled to assume that government seems oblivious to the sufferings and agonies of her citizens as a result of the relentless activities of the bandits.
JNI condemned in the strongest terms the senseless and barbaric act, along with other equally disheartened bloodletting and carnage, stressing that all other acts of arson attacks, attempted prison jailbreaks, bomb blasts in Oyo, Kogi, Plateau, Yobe and Borno states and many of such irrepressible acts stand condemned.
JNI sent its heartfelt condolences to the families of the commuters, all officers and men that died in active service, as well as the people and government of Borno, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kogi, Oyo, Niger, Kaduna-Abuja Road, Kebbi, Plateau and Yobe States that have suffered in recent times various degrees of violence and Nigeria in general.
It called to the federal government to rise up to its primary, cum constitutional responsibility of protecting and securing citizens, adding that “Nigerians are desperately yearning for concrete actions against all forms of criminalities as silence is not golden given the most unfortunate spate of the horrendous butchery of human lives in the Nigerian state.”
The statement stated that the Northern Governors’ Forum should rise above board and collectively end the new normal eroding the heritage of the north, saying that they should learn from their colleagues of the southern extraction.
The statement observed that government’s silence over the 1000 Housing Estate bomb blast in Maiduguri, the Jos Prison Break and the burnt commuters along Sabon Birni Sokoto road, not to mention the multitude of carnages in Sokoto – Zamfara axis, calls for serious sober reflection.
It said that the federal government should be seen to be proactive on security matters, as well as assure and assuage citizens’ fears at critical moments of grief.
It noted that the recurrent security challenges such as kidnappings, armed robberies, rising bomb blasts and attacks by Boko Haram cum ISWAP insurgents, in addition to ethnic violence here and there within Nigeria, is alarming.
It explained that ‘government should take the bull by the horn by prosecuting promoters of hate speech and tame the rising cases of banditry in Nigeria, otherwise it would become a norm that cannot be challenged as government should act fast before Nigerians are consumed by these self-inflicted maladies.”
While expressing its condolences to all the victims of the unfortunate killings, it called on both the politicians and non-governmental organisations to strengthen their cooperation and synergy aimed at finding a lasting solution to those spate of killings and destructions.
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