The Coalition of Nigerian Youths On Security and Safety Affairs (CONYSSA) on Thursday urged the Federal Government to create a special court for the prosecution of bandits, kidnappers and violent extremists to address worsening insecurity in the country.
This follows the recent abduction of 38 worshippers at a Christ Apostle Church in Eruku, Kwara State, and the kidnapping of over 300 students and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Papiri, Niger State.
Speaking, the Ogun State Coordinator of CONYSSA, Com. Ayo Akinrombi, urged the President Tinubu-led administration that the creation of the special court was long overdue to prosecute bandits and violent extremists to nip in the bud the insecurity ravaging the nation.
He made the call at the Ogun State Youth Multi-Stakeholder Security Summit on Social Vices in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Development held at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat, Iwe-Iroyin, Abeokuta.
Akinrombi, who called on the president to intensify efforts to combat the menace of insecurity especially in the North, lauded his decision to have cancelled his international trip to AU and EU events in order to address recent abductions, which later resulted in the release of the 38 worshippers in Kwara and students in Niger State.
He said “What we youth want from Mr President is that he should do more on insecurity in terms of protecting our schools, borders and make sure all these bandits, if being arrested, are dealt with. One of the things we are expecting the president to do is to have a special court that can prosecute bandits and kidnappers to make their cases fast to discourage others from doing.
“President Tinubu has done so well in the issue of insecurity because we can see the reduction in banditry and kidnapping but until recently we heard attacks of banditry, kidnapping in some areas in the North especially in the North Central and East.
“And one of the things that the President did that we the youth commented was that he cancelled his international programme, the AU and EU, and allowed the vice president to attend for him to be able to monitor and coordinate the issue of insecurity in the country, and immediately you can see the changes on the release of 38 kidnapped and the students in Niger State.”
The coordinator also chastised the youth against cultism, drug abuse, human trafficking and other social vices, stressing that both cultism and illicit drug abuse had shortened the lives of some youth, lamenting the huge amount drug addicts’ parents had spent at rehab centres.
He appealed to the Minister for Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, and other well-meaning individuals and groups to join the CONYSSA to campaign against social vices among the youth, expressing regret that the group had done campaign in seven states including Ogun without any support from local, state and federal government.
“There is no gain in all these social vices and by the time they are caught they will blame themselves especially those that engage in drugs, they also shortened their lives and at the end of the day their family spends more to rehabilitate them. We advise them no matter what you are passing through follow the right way, shun cultism, stop human trafficking.
“We have been doing massive campaigns against all the social vices especially cultism, drug trafficking, human trafficking and others but if we can see support from the government definitely we will be able to cover more grounds. We are employing on the Minister for youth, national orientation agency and other parastatals to support CONYSSA in campaigns to do more work,” he added.
Highlights of the event was the giving of awards to dignitaries as the Icon of Security Ambassadors, they include: Dr. Rotimi George Tailor, Prince Adegboyega Adekoya and Olori Omolara MacGregor among others.
