PDP urges President to tackle insecurity

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to end his “private visit” abroad and immediately return home to face the worsening security situation in the country.

The party said it was unacceptable for the President to “practically abandon” his responsibilities as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to pursue unexplained private matters in foreign lands while bandits, marauders and insurgents maimed, kidnapped and killed innocent residents.

In a statement yesterday, the party’s spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said the President’s inattention had emboldened insurgents and bandits to continue to over-run communities, unleash mayhem and bloodletting on residents of Borno, Zamfara, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, Kaduna, Benue, Kogi and other states, including Mr. President’s home state, Katsina.

The statement said while President Buhari went abroad, bandits were pillaging communities in Katsina State, killing several persons and abducting the District Head of his hometown, Daura, Musa Umar; the father-in-law of Mr. President’s security aide.

The PDP said: “Within this period, marauders invaded communities in Adamawa and killed no fewer than 26 innocent Nigerians; many more have been killed in Borno, Taraba, Benue and Zamfara states, where bandits also reportedly attacked Government Girls Secondary School at Moriki and kidnapped some schoolgirls.

“While the Buhari administration remains virtually nonchalant, kidnappers have taken over many of our major highways, with hundreds of compatriots held in captivity in forests on the Kaduna-Abuja, Taraba-Katsina-Ala and other highways in the country.

“It is clear that President Buhari has not demonstrated required capacity to control the security situation and now resorts to cheap escapism, particularly in the face of allegations in the public space that certain individuals around his administration are benefitting from the situation.”

It added: “The PDP, therefore, calls on President Buhari to immediately return home and use the remaining part of his tenure to seek help instead of wandering abroad under the guise of private visits.”