NANS to Buhari: Sack service chiefs now

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the current service chiefs, saying they have lost touch with reality in the fight against Boko Haram insurgents.

The student body also condemned in strong terms the brutal murder of Ropvil Daciya Dalep, a student of the University of Maiduguri.

NANS President, Comrade Danielson Bamidele Akpan, while reacting to the gruesome murder of Dalep, urged Buhari to take firm control of the country so as to arrest the deteriorating security situation confronting the nation.

He warned that if something concrete was not done to rejig the nation’s security architecture, the students would be compelled to commence an action to get the country secured immediately.

ALSO READ: Ekiti governor, Adams, others for OPU world congress

Akpan recalled that Dalep was abducted on his way back to school by the Boko Haram terrorist group on 9th January 2019 alongside others in the vehicle to Maiduguri from Jos.

He said: “After days in the net of the dreaded Boko Haram group, Dalep a bonafide member of the largest black students movement, NANS was brutally killed on the 22nd January 2020 in a video that has gone viral in the social media space.

“Others are still held captive and suffering in the hands of their abductors. On a daily basis, Nigerians are kidnapped and killed by Boko Haram and other unknown armed groups,” he said.

He added that the students were worried that this dastardly act was coming a few days ago “we were shocked by news of the execution of the Pastor Lawan Andimi, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika Local Government of Adamawa State who was abducted and murdered in cold blood by the same terrorist group in a video recorded and released by the terror group”.

The NANS President further noted that communities in the North East, especially in Adamawa and the Borno States have come under heavy attack with untold casualties and tales of woe that has been either not reported or under-reported by the media.

He said: “At the moment, there is no safe place in Nigeria as abduction is carried out close to the seat of power, Abuja and its environs. Travellers and commuters are regularly attacked, kidnapped and killed around Kogi, Kaduna and Jos routes.

“The impact of the violent attacks has been devastating on these communities and Nigerian students who now live in perpetual fear and can no longer attend school in these areas due to fear of killings and kidnaps as their campuses come under several attacks and the highways they commute from their various homes to school unsafe.

“We call on the President Muhammadu Buhari, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to immediately sack the service chiefs as they have lost touch with the reality.

“The rising insecurity in every part of the country must be curtailed, as we call for a halt in the normalisation of bloodletting.

“We shall commence an action to get our country secured immediately,” he said.