We wasted our votes on Buhari in 2015, 2019 –Coalition of Northern Groups

A Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has criticized President Muhammadu Buhari over his handling of governance as well as his incapacity to secure the Northern region from terrorists, kidnappers and bandits.

CNG in a statement on Tuesday, following the gruesome murder of rice farmers in Zabarmari village in Jere local government area of Borno State, described the massacre of the farmers as pathetic and has proved that northerners wasted their votes on Buhari in 2015 and 2019.

The spokesman of the CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who signed the statement, lamented the wasted votes of the northerners, insisting that Buhari has failed the country in general and is the “single problem of Nigeria today.”

“The latest massacre of more than 100 innocent farmers in a single attack is significant in proving that northern votes were wasted in electing President Buhari in 2015 and 2019.

“It shows that northerners did make a mistake in putting up a solid, united front for him despite their ethnic and religious differences, only to be abandoned to suffer the effects of such levels of insecurity, poverty and poor governance.

“For us in the North, policing lives and livelihoods of communities is now a major problem; it would not be an exaggeration to say bluntly that Buhari is the single problem of Nigeria today, CNG said.

The statement credited to the Coalition of Northern Groups went to add as follows: “We all heard of Zabarmari because the number was huge and it all happened at the same place and hour.

Read also: Why is Abaribe, Ekweremadu walking free while Ndume is in prison? —Northern groups

“The truth is, these incidents are constant all over the North which is today virtually a battlefront, and a hostage of Boko Haram, kidnappers, bandits, rustlers and rapists who roam about and operate freely while President Buhari and his government persist in denial.

“Northern leaders and elite fortified in their comfort zones and living far away from the effects of this devastating insecurity may be tolerated if they downplay the significance of insisting that Buhari has failed in the vital area of protecting the lives and property of a significant component of the nation, the North.

“We the typical northerners, however, understand what it means, and we daily pray to God that we have a change of situation because, without a doubt, this administration would undoubtedly abandon the North to be routed completely by criminals who understand that weak political will, insensitivity, incompetence and corruption have weakened government’s resolve to challenge them.”

“All northerners feel the pains of this insecurity that is already frustrating all hopes that the government could discover a more permanent solution to recurring violence across the region.

“We, therefore, insist that in the face of this glaring failure, the people must consider taking steps to protect themselves and their communities.

“While we don’t doubt that governments are important in deciding how we live, citizens and communities who speak and understand each other make stronger building blocks for sustainable peace and public safety, “ CNG concluded.

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