By Aiyeku Timothy
A former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, has said Northern elders will continue to speak in condemnation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of security challenges in the region.
Bafarawa, who made this known on Wednesday, said elders from the north are unhappy with the president as thousands of people were displaced in the North while the government spends billions on COVID-19.
He said if the North fails to speak out now, they won’t when a Southerner becomes president.
His words: “We can’t keep silent because our person from the North is in power. If we don’t speak, when a Southerner becomes president, we won’t have the right to express our feelings.
“Thousands of people are displaced in the North and in other parts of the country. Instead of the government to spend N400 billion on COVID-19 vaccines, why can’t we spend it to buy security equipment? Insecurity is our Coronavirus in Nigeria.
“The threats and acts of armed banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping and other forms of arson being perpetrated in our region and Nigeria, in general, is taking an unnecessary dimension to the level that no sane society would watch and wrap up everything in the hands of the government.
“All of us as members of the society should bear it in mind that while the government does what it is supposed to do, we should also be seen to contribute our quota towards achieving the desired goals of ridding our society of these acts of barbarism.
“We should resolve that we could use any legitimate means through interaction, in the forms of meetings, conferences, and any other means possible to identify areas which border on insecurity issue and reach out to the government or its agencies for the purpose of generating ideas on how best the government could tackle the menace.”
