Secure Nigeria or resign, PDP reps tell Buhari

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to wake up and save Nigeria from the grips of rampaging terrorists, bandits and kidnappers or he should resign.

The PDP caucus said it was worrisome that Nigeria under Buhari has been seized by hostage-takers-bandits and terrorists – who extract ransom demands on the poor and impoverished citizens and turn homesteads, hamlets, villages, towns and cities into killing fields.

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The caucus in a statement signed by the leader of the caucus, Rep. Kingsley Chinda (PDP Rivers State), noted that the bloodletting unleashed by the hostage-takers, which has gone unabated, with Buhari showing “complete incapacity to arrest the situation, or bring the killer squads who roam the vast swathes of our country to book”, was traumatic.

Chinda said the president was missing in action and that rather than leading from the front as a general, he was leading from the back.

“Everywhere we turn, today, our dead are either being prepared for burials by families whose hearts are torn up by grief, or they are being mourned by families who can’t tell where the corpses of their loved ones are or where the killer squads will turn up next.

“Here is the stark truth of the Nigerian condition under Buhari’s ruinous rule; citizens are in a prolong, severe and intense state of mourning that has kept them stuck in acute anguish, pain and trauma.”

“In his recent remark at the sidelines of the COP-26 Conference in Scotland, United Kingdom, General Buhari boasted: ‘We will defeat them, one highway, one rail link- and one job- at a time’. It is over three weeks since the Conference ended, no stone of resistance has been mobilized by the General against bandits, terrorists and kidnappers,” he said.

Speaking further, the caucus said bandits, terrorists and kidnappers have continued to unleash their reigns of terror on helpless citizens, taking not “one highway, one rail link – and one job – at a time” but whole communities and regions in fell swoops whenever they choose to strike.

“The communities of Sabon Birni of Sokoto State, Kagara of Niger State, Karim Lamido of Taraba State, Katoge and Yanturaku of Katsina State, and of the north east, north west, south south and south east are witnesses to the reigns of terror.”

The caucus said it was saddened that “unfortunately, the president who famously boasted of leading from the front is now missing in action.”

“General Buhari is concerned only about his personal and family safety, and the safety of his lackeys.”

“Typical of rulers in history who suffered from messianic complex, he thinks his personal survival is tantamount to the survival of the nation,” the caucus said.

On the issue of the Electoral amendment bill, the caucus expressed concerns that in the past one month, Nigerians have waited on Buhari to give assent to the Electoral Reform Bill passed to him by the National Assembly.