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CSOs ask Buhari to step down over increasing insecurity

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About 44 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to step down over the growing insecurity in the country.

The groups consist of many civil society organizations across the country including the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Centre for Democratic Research and Training (CRDDERT), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Media Rights Agenda (MRA).

Others are the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP), Zero-Corruption Coalition (ZCC), Partners on Electoral Reform, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) and National Procurement Watch Platform.

Other groups include the Praxis Center, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civil Education (CHRICED), Social Action, Community Action for Popular Participation, Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP), Global Rights, Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE), Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA), Tax Justice and Governance Platform, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, Women In Nigeria, Femi Falana Chamber and HEDA Resource Centre.

The CSOs criticism of the Buhari-led administration arose following the kidnap of students and teachers of the Government Science College (GSC) in Kagara, Rafi local government area of Niger State by armed bandits and the killing of a student.

In a joint statement released on Saturday, the groups said Buhari has failed the nation as far as tackling insecurity in Nigeria is concerned.

READ ALSO: Growing incompetence of leaders fast turning Nigeria into a failed state —CSO

The statement reads:

“Where the President fails to fulfill his constitutional duties, we demand the President to step aside or the National Assembly initiates impeachment proceedings against him on the grounds of gross misconduct as provided for in Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“All over the country, Nigerian citizens, including children, are killed daily by terrorists, criminals and state actors. Through the Minister of Defence, the government has instead callously abdicated its responsibility and called Nigerian citizens ‘cowards’ and urged Nigerians to ‘defend themselves’.

“Kidnapping for ransom has assumed an industrial and deadly scale never witnessed on the African continent. Our children are no longer safe in schools and Nigerian citizens and communities are now pauperized by terrorists who extort huge ransoms while murdering their hostages.

“In the strongest possible terms, we condemn what has now become the government’s standard of using taxpayers’ money to pay terrorists, thereby funding and encouraging terrorism and criminality.

“President Buhari and his government have failed in their primary duty under Section 14 2 (b) of the 1999 Constitution, which is ensuring the security and welfare of the Nigerian people. Instead, under their watch, Nigeria is now a catalogue of bloodletting.”

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