Borno Emirate Concerned Citizens Forum (BECF) has thrown its weight behind the call for President Muhammadu Buhari’s resignation over Saturday killing of scores of rice farmers in Borno State and general insecurity in the country.
BECF’s Chairman and the Zannah Boguma of Borno, Hassan Boguma, told The Guardian exclusively on the sideline of a news conference in Maiduguri, that the forum’s position was in keeping with “the resolution of the Northern Elders Forum (BEF) adopted last week in Kaduna.”
He lamented that the President, who was elected to secure the life of every citizen, according to the Constitution, had failed to do so.
Buhari’s election, he recalled, followed the inability of former President Goodluck Jonathan to secure Borno and other states from the Boko Haram insurgents, as they captured 22 local government areas in 2014.
Insecurity, he noted, had not abated under Buhari, saying: “This is why we resolved to ask the President to resign. I am a member of the Elders Forum that took this decision on resignation. This forum is in full support that President Muhammadu Buhari should resign. His resignation was adopted by members of Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) in Kaduna last week.”
Earlier at the conference, Boguma asked the President as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to end killings in the state and across the nation.
He also stressed the need for Buhari to visit Borno on a fact-finding mission to assess the destruction to both lives and property, arguing that a delegation from the President was not enough to address issues relating to life and death.
“All what we want is absolute proactive measures and not reactions and condemnations. One of the fundamentals for electing you into the office of President in 2015 was to overcome challenges of insecurity to life and property. It is disappointing to note that Nigeria under your watch is sinking,” he added.
Beyond personal visit by the President to Borno, the forum underscored the need for him to hold consultations with stakeholders, who would give him with first-hand information on how to resolve the over a decade insurgency.
The Boko Haram insurgency has claimed 36,000 lives with property worth $9.2 billion (about N3.42 trillion) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states lost in the process.
Upset by Garba Shehu’s statement for farmers to get military’s clearance before going to farmlands, he said: “We are not happy about military clearance before our farmers go to their farmlands.
We’re against the statement by Shehu. He should apologise to our people for accusing the dead of not getting clearance from military to work on their rice fields to feed themselves.”
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