STATEMENT BY THE CIVIL SOCIETY DELEGATION TO THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014 ON THE WORSENING STATE OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA
The civil society delegation to the 2014 National Conference is worried about the worsening state of insecurity in the country, and concerned about the deepening sense of hopelessness among ordinary Nigerians with respect to the security situation in the country.
We join other well meaning Nigerians, including all the delegates to the National Conference 2014, who have unanimously passed strongly worded resolutions on the issue to condemn without mincing words the perpetrators and perpetuators of this dastardly act.
Furthermore, we condemn the cheapening of the value placed on human life by those responsible for the ongoing carnage visited on the ordinary people of our country.
For a country that has been buffeted by such acts of terror on such a magnitude in the past few years, we condemn without hesitation the absolute absence of preparedness capacity on the part of emergency services to deal with the aftermath of the Nyanya bomb blast.
We note that victims, both the dead and survivors, were transported on the back of trucks, pick up vans, and even wheel barrows. The emergency services were simply not prepared and were overwhelmed with the scale of the catastrophe.
We note that such an incident occurred despite the several checkpoints between Nasarawa state and the FCT, and condemn the apparent failure of intelligence and the seeming continued lack of coordination among the armed and security forces.
Furthermore, we are deeply worried about the ease with which insurgents in very visible convoys enter into communities and unleash such violence on innocent citizens without detection by security and armed forces.
In particular in this regard we note the continuous attack on schools and the massacre of children and abduction of young girls by these enemies of humanity who have decided to wage an unrelenting war on the poor.
We commiserate with the Nigerian families who have lost loved ones, or whose loved ones have been injured and or abducted by these agents of darkness.
Given that according to our constitution the duty of the state and any government is to ensure the security and wellbeing of citizens, we call on the Nigeria government to immediately ensure the following:
· A complete closure of the border with Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republics;
· The immediate deployment of security personnel and the armed forces, along with the deployment of modern surveillance technology to monitor and patrol our borders;
· The immediate overhaul of the security and armed forces to refocus and reorganize the war against the perpetrators and perpetuators on terror;
· Immediate overhaul of the emergency response services to ensure a level of preparedness that can deal with emergencies of this nature and of such scale;
· Immediate implementation of the reports and recommendations of the recent committees of enquiry and commissions on the state of insecurity in the North East in particular and in the country in general. Specifically we demand that those indicted by those reports be immediately named, and prosecuted.
· Finally we enjoin all Nigerians to remain vigilant and to continue to be their brothers’ and sisters’ keepers as we combat and confront this existential threat to our nation.
Signed on behalf of the civil society delegation to the National Conference 2014:
Femi Falana: Delegation leader
Abiola Akiode
Jaye Gaskia
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