Group tasks President Buhari on national unity

The Igbo Ekunie Initiative (IEI), a socio-cultural organisation comprising Igbo indigenes in Nigeria and the Diaspora has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute a government of national unity and declare state of emergency on security.

It argued that to gain nationwide support in a bid to restore security, the Chief of Army staff, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Air staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Inspector General of Police (IGP) and National Security Adviser (NSA) should be reconstituted to reflect the six geopolitical zones of the country.

In a statement, issued yesterday, by its President and Secretary, Maazi Tochukwu Ezeoke and Lawrence Nwobu, they stressed that the existing Armed Forces divisions and formations should be reconstituted to reflect the six-geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

“The Nigeria Police should also be reconstituted to reflect state and zonal balance. The governing Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) and Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs) must reflect the six geopolitical zones, while each state must produce a state police commissioner for national spread and to aid the overall effort to restore security across the nation.

“Also, the Federal Government should urgently set up committees to begin restructuring the country and to dialogue with IPOB and other groups to de-escalate tensions and tame rising separatist inclinations across the country,” it said.

The group argued that in heeding its advice, President Buhari would have taken important steps of nation building and structural consolidation that would substantially pull Nigeria from the brink.

“We urge the president to act with all urgency before it is too late. A stitch in time saves nine. Nigerians struggled long and hard for democracy in the belief it will ensure security, end discrimination, human rights violations, restore good governance, economic growth and prosperity, among others,” the statement added.

The group, therefore, warned that the incumbent administration was up against an existential danger that must not be underestimated or taken lightly, insisting: “Under President Buhari, we are fatally worse off in all indices for which we sought democracy.

“We remind the president that the protection of life and property is his most important constitutional responsibility. Indeed other than his fundamental constitutional responsibility, the president also singularly bears causative responsibility for Nigeria’s security crisis and drift to war.”