The Action Team Against Conscription and Kidnap, ATACK, is a new nationwide network of CSOs and NGOs with the objective of agitating the cause of victims of abduction, kidnap, hostage-taking, forced marriage and conscription.
Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere that politicians across the country should stop using the abduction of the 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, to seek political advantage ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Afenifere’s statement is a reaction to a statement by the Northern Elders Forum asking President Goodluck Jonathan to bring back the abducted girls and end insurgency in Nigeria by October or forget about the 2015 elections.
The northern elders also maintained that the conflicts in the North-East are being engineered to weaken the North politically and economically by interests which intend to exploit such weaknesses for electoral benefits.
It is unexpected of elderly people that Afenifere is deemed to be composed of, to make such unguarded statement when they know that unquantifiable numbers of lives and properties have been destroyed and attempt are not being made despite so much money that have been claimed to have sunk into the expedition of curbing insurgency in the country. Nothing significant has been achieved so far despite expending over N1trn; rather the insurgents seem to be getting more and more powerful by the day and instead of facing the task of bringing insurgency to check, the system took delight in bombarding electoral venues with various security personnel showing unhand power, fire power on unarmed civilian populace.
It is preposterous of anybody to have thought that a section of the country would take joy in waging war against itself, or sacrifice over two hundred of its children to such and unnecessary war fare and be happy about it. It is therefore our belief that if anybody is the President of the country and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and is unable to make any significant progress in the search and rescue of more than two hundred children that have been taken and several other adults and properties that have been destroyed, then such a person doesn’t worth to end the term of office not to talk of dreaming of coming back.
As far as ATACK is concerned, we are not sure that the northern elders have said anything beyond their competence. Every hand must be on deck, so that insurgency could be contained. As long as President Goodluck Jonathan cannot bring insurgency under check within the shortest possible time, then he should be made to go. It is either he resigns, if he has any sense of shame and if he doesn’t, he should be forced out of it because he doesn’t deserve to continue to hold that office.
