TheCable

The Progressive Youth Caucus (PYC), a coalition of youth groups in the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to act fast and end the killings across the country.

In a statement at the weekend, Bamidele Olagoke, PYC’s chairman, told the president should do away with non-performing service chiefs and heads of security organisation.

The youths urged Buhari to heed a recommendation of the national assembly to modify the security architecture of the country.

“As young people in our party, we have observed with great worry the ongoing killings, robberies, abductions and other cases of insecurity that have transpired across the nation. We understand that there is a need to exercise extreme caution  when commenting on all matters of security, however, the truth, as it stands, is that Nigerians no longer feel safe in their homes, on the streets, and in their places of work,” the statement read.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, as our president, and the leader of our great party, must immediately heed the international communities warnings and take drastic action to end the rampant bloodletting across our nation.

“Amnesty International’s poser on the response time of our security forces should serve as a clear indictment on our police and other security forces that they are either incapable of dealing with the problems as it stands or just outrightly slow and insensitive to the carnage that across the nation.

“Right now, President Buhari must heed the earlier call of the national assembly and now, the United Nations and Amnesty International – one, make our security forces more accountable and effective: if this means making drastic changes to the heads of the police, the army, the navy and the airforce, this must be done.

“Two, reassure the nation. Nigerians are in mourning. Mr. President must re-echo his pre-election commitment to the sanctity of human lives. We cannot continue to live in a nation where people are being killed and kidnapped on a daily basis.

“Three, collaborate: Mr. President must immediately look beyond his conventional advisory networks and reach into the states, the local governments, the national assembly, the international community, and the traditional/religious leaders, and seek their advise and collaboration on the way forward for our nation, and in order to get a clearer assessment of the real situation across the country and the mood of the nation.”

Olagoke said without taking these measures, “we will continue to live in a nation where the receipt of President Buhari’s condolence statements for these mass killings will become the order of the day.”