The Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG, on Saturday criticised President Muhammadu Buhari, saying “for more than 48 hours people were being killed at Nguroje, Taraba state, President Buhari remained in Kano to celebrate the wedding of Governor Ganduje’s daughter.
In a statement signed by the group’s spokesperson, Abdulazeez Sulaiman, the group said it has become necessary to voice out its concerns over the obvious disregard for the lives of Nigerians displayed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The statement read: “We are extremely moved by the fact that while for more than 48 hours people were being killed at Nguroje, on the Mambila Plateau of Taraba state, President Buhari remained in Kano to celebrate the wedding of Governor Ganduje’s daughter.
“We also find it insensitive that Northern state governors also celebrated in Kano with Buhari while their people are being killed in Mambila.
“While condoling with the victims of this fresh round of violence, we condemn with all our might the indifferent attitude of the President and Northern governors,” the group said.
The group recalled that part of the negligence that consumed the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan was his campaigning in Kano at the time people were dying at Nyanya.
“The President and all our elected representatives at all levels should, therefore, note that their neglect to act decisively in this circumstance will definitely form part of the burdens they would have to carry to the 2019 polls.
“We remind them that by opting to pursue political capital and abandoning their primary responsibility, they have betrayed the trust reposed in them and the electorate shall hold them accountable at the appropriate time.
“We also find it unfortunate that the federal government has neglected to heed the calls for the imposition of a state of emergency in Taraba, Kaduna, Zamfara and Benue states where communal clashes and banditry take citizens’ lives unabated,” the group lamented.
The group therefore called on the Federal Government to take immediate steps to disband all militias and armed groups in Nigeria by resort to the use of force if needs be.
This, according to them, would ensure that no group has the capacity to challenge the State in its prerogative to maintain law and order, and protect citizens’ lives and properties.
“This has become all the more necessary now with the revelation by the Taraba state police that the latest round of killings were carried out by Mambila militia.
“With regards to this, we demand that government should take further steps to ensure that the Fulani of Mambila and other places where they are currently being hunted are given adequate protection by state agencies,” the group concluded.
