Ade Adebayo
Arewa Youth Consultative Forum on Tuesday said it would devise means to protect the northern people from insecurity since the military has failed to do.
National Chairman of the group, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, while speaking with FIRSTNEWS, said the since the service chiefs had run out of ideas to protect the people, the youths would rise to protect them.
Shettima was responding to a statement by the Defence Headquarters, which said some residents of the North-East sabotage security operatives’ efforts to combat insurgency in the region.
Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Enenche, said the people kept important intelligence away from the military.
Shettima who was furious with the military’s statement said, “It is a privilege for the citizens to be secure and protected? Is it a privilege or is their right? Are the armed forces supposed to take responsibility or put blame on the innocent citizens who have lost their lives as a result of incompetence of the service chiefs, who are saddled with the responsibility but ran out of ideas?
“This is wrong. They shouldn’t go there at all. They shouldn’t add more salt to the injury.”
The northern youth leader also lashed out at the media aide to the President, Garba Shehu, who said the resignation of the service chiefs was not the solution to insecurity in the country.
According to him, “If they insist on not leaving, then they should give us the solution. They shouldn’t leave us blind. They should proffer solution since they believe their going because they have run out of ideas is not the next thing that they must be there, that without them Nigerian armed forces cannot make impact, except them, they should be Alfa and Omega. Let them tell us what they intend to do now. Let us hear something new from what they are telling us again.
On protecting the northerners, Shettima said, “We are left with no option than to start protecting our people, according to the law. That which they don’t care to do, we will do it. It is the responsibility of a reliable government to take responsibility for this insecurity. Though we don’t have arms and we are not legally authorised to carry arms. But definitely, we will stand by the side of the people against these criminals and we will begin to protect them.