Afenifere to Buhari: Practice what you preach

The Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Monday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to walk his talk on his call for justice, fairness and equity on the floor of the United Nations when he addressed the global body last Friday.

Buhari, while calling for the reform of the UN, has said that “without justice, the legitimacy (even efficacy) of our organisation is called to question.”

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He also called for dialogue between Israel and Palestine to resolve their differences, adding that the skirmish between the duo borders on “the question of justice, fairness and equity”.

But Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, stated that ethnic nationalities and other concerned stakeholders in Nigeria have been calling for dialogue to resolve ‘Nigeria issues’ for long.

According to it, the federal government under President Buhari has not only been ignoring them but hounding those calling for such dialogue.

The body said, “It is interesting, perhaps comforting that the Nigerian authority realizes that dialogue is the way to go in resolving knotty issues.

“It is however a hypocrisy of the highest order for this same authority to be prescribing this to foreign authorities while describing those calling for the same thing at home as ‘hate speech makers’ and separatists.”

Afenifere stated that the reform that Buhari advocated for the United Nations is the same thing those calling for dialogue at home are calling for.

“Why and how our president considered reform and dialogue as necessary at the global level but considered the same as anathema in Nigeria beats one’s imagination,” Afenifere queried.

On internal security, Afenifere said while the President in his speech gave the impression that terrorists have more or less surrendered to the Nigerian army, the reality on the ground belies the president’s claim.

“We, as Afenifere, commend the heroic efforts of the Nigerian army but it is a fact that activities of terrorists appear to be more expanding rather than receding going by the submission of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, that over 330,000 Nigerian refugees are languishing in neighbouring countries due to insurgency and armed banditry in the North East and North West as well as Kaduna State Governor El Rufai that advocated for the military to be decentralized.

“We call on the government to immediately allow states to transform their respective security networks into state police with all the powers appertaining thereto”, the body added.