Troops lack capacity to stop North-East killings -ACF
Former Inspector General of Police and Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, has raised the alarm over the continuous killing of innocent persons and the destruction of property in the North Eastern parts of Nigeria.
Coomassie expressed grave concern over the apparent inability of the Federal Government to squarely contain the reactionary and insurgent forces.
Speaking in Minna on Thursday, the ACF chairman believed the Army Division established to fight the insurgents did not seem to have the combat ability and readiness to checkmate the terrorists and stop the wanton killings of defenseless persons.
Coomassie said these during a courtesy visit by members of the ACF to 'Chairman of the Northern Nigeria Governors' Forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu.
He added that the unending massacre and the destruction of the economy of the region, if left unchecked, would lead to total annihilation of the entire people of the affected states.
He warned that the killings would soon lead to genocide and annihilation of the people of the region if the Federal Government failed to curb the insurgents.
The ACF chairman, who led other members of the forum on what was described as a 'Save-our-Soul mission' to Aliyu on behalf of the people of the North-East, lamented that breadwinners of several hundreds of households were being killed, thousands of women turned into widows, and hundreds of girls raped and abducted while many villages had been razed by the insurgent since 2009.
He said members of the forum would soon storm the streets on mass protest over the pogrom in the North-East even as he urged the northern state governments to stand up to the huge security challenge currently threatening the region.
He said governors in the northern region should collectively stand up and fight the ugly development or risk their relevance in the eyes of their people.
Aliyu, while acknowledging the gravity of the crisis in the region, bemoaned the continuous killing of innocent, defenceless people and the wanton destruction of property.