Religion, regional attachment slowing down progress in fight against insecurity – Northern elders

Northern elders in the country have said that religion and regional attachment are some of the factors militating against the fight to curb insecurity in the country.

The elders under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, CNEPD in a statement on Friday also blamed the leaders and elders especially in the North East and North West geopolitical zones saying, they saw the danger at the beginning of the crisis but refused to speak the truth. 

According to the statement by the group’s National Coordinator,Engr. Goni Zana, the elders said, it was unfortunate that such considerations resulted in leading them to advising President Muhammadu Buhari against picking security chiefs outside the North.

They noted that the development  weakened the zeal with which the war against terrorists was being waged by most  handlers of the crisis, thus emboldening the adversaries.

Particularly, the elders  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. 

“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 a deep drop in the pursuit of the war against terrorists thus emboldened the adversaries on the other hand.

“Many lives and property have been lost and destroyed. Frontline troops were falling every day to a more determined group of insurgents and bandits but our decision to remain quiet and not say the truth as things were happening,led us to this present situation,”the elders said in the statement.

While disclosing that it was wrong advice from leaders and elders of the region to the president in making such decision was the greatest undoing, they called on the president to henceforth stop adhering to advice from people of narrow interest and begin to make only decisions that are pro-Nigeria with a view to correcting the many ills of his administration towards a better country.

To them, such decisions should be immediately reviewed. For instance the appointment of service chiefs in particular should reflect the various geopolitical zones as well as other appointments in other areas of our national life.

This will to a large extent encourage patriotism and commitment of our forces and the citizens at large. 

READ ALSO: Again, Northern elders condemn rising spate of insecurity across Nigeria

” 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 at the rate at which we are going now if nothing is done within the shortest possible time, we may not have a country to call our own.

The era of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is over. We can’t continue to dwell in the past. It’s time to move forward now.

“Mr President must ignore every sectional, regional, tribal and religious sentiments and go for the best hands that can do this job of securing our country.

“As northern elders who are concerned about the peace, security, and stability of our dear nation, we wish to appeal to those people of influence in the North who have access to the president to always speak the truth to him especially in appointments or reforms in the security sectors and others even if it does not favor our region and religion provided such appointments will bring lasting peace and unify Nigeria,” they advised.

They added that idea of always putting first religion and geopolitical sentiments without looking out for professionalism and competence is the reason why the country is on  cross road.

“And until we put an end to these sentiments we may be in for a serious problem. Our highly respected traditional and religious leaders must give Mr President a pro-Nigeria advice and not personal advice.

“We are in this mess in the North today because some people refused to speak the truth”, the elders tasked President Buhari not to look back in correcting his mistakes in appointments into the security sector, saying various geopolitical zones should be involved in the management of the tensed security situation”.