Don’t wait for Buhari, deploy security votes to curb crimes, violence in southeast, south-south – HURIWA tells Governors

The HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) on Friday challenged southeast and south-south governors to deploy their security votes to procure professional services that would empower them contain rising crimes and violence in the zone and should not continue to wait for President Muhammadu Buhari. HURIWA in a statement indicated that the southern governors are the ones to solve the insecurity problems in the region, not the president.

HURIWA, therefore, challenged Governors of the Southeast and South-South states to disburse their security votes to procure services of professional forensic private investigators to untangle the identities of the unknown gunmen bombarding facilities of national security agencies in their states.

The group argued that the action has become necessary because it believes  that President Buhari is incapable and unwilling to stop the cocktails of attacks given that for six years, terrorist and violent crimes, including kidnappings, and invasions of communities by armed Fulani militia have increased in leaps and bounds across the country even as the President has manifested his absolute lack of capacity or will power to check the widening spectres of violence and killings.

HURIWA also expressed the belief that “only political, religious community and civil society leaders of southeast and south-south extractions can resolve the attacks if they try because the President who does not trust Southeast Military officers to head any commanding role of significance under his administration for over six year since coming to office, won’t be in a hurry to solve the emerging security nightmares in the southeast and south-south.

The statement reads in part: “HURIWA wants governors of Southeastern States and their South-South counterparts to spend parts of their security votes to engage the services of private forensic investigators to uncover the identities of the attackers of national security institutions and assets in their regions.

“Wikipedia had in a report described security votes as a huge amount of money allocated to the 36 states in Nigeria for the sole purpose of security services. Based on Wikipedia figures on Niger Delta states, Delta State governor receives the highest of N2bn monthly followed by Akwa Ibom State with N1.8bn and Rivers State with N1.5bn. Imo governor receives the lowest with N333.3 million monthly while his counterparts in     Abia get N700m; Edo, N900m; Cross River, N500m and Ondo, N600m. The monthly figure for Bayelsa State Governor was reportedly shrouded in secrecy, though unconfirmed sources put it at over N1bn.”

The group maintained that populist expectations were that the governors should use the “outrageous” security votes estimated at over N108 billion yearly to tackle security threats such as kidnapping, pipeline vandalism, among others, in their domain. “Shockingly, there has been rising insecurity in the region with the governors most times absolving themselves and blaming security challenges in their states on the Federal Government,” HURIWA said.

The group said that investigations by a particular media had revealed a huge amount of money provided monthly to the Nigerian president and state governors, ostensibly for security purposes, that is unappropriated, unaudited, and unaccounted for. “Although at present, the amount of security money voted monthly for the Nigerian president is undisclosed, a reliable source in Edo State Government House confided to the said media that the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, the then governor, smiled to the bank every month with at least N500 million allegedly as his security vote,” HURIWA alleged.

The group was of the view that only a coalition for civilization can counter the violent extremism of the forces against civilization that are waging a war against civilization in the South East of Nigeria and South-South by destroying security assets built with the sweat and resources of the people of those regions.

It, therefore, declared: “The people and all positive forces in the South-South and South East of Nigeria needs to reject these systematic degeneration of civilization and advancement by condemning these attacks and joining forces in a coalition for civilization to counter these attempts at returning the South East and South-South to the State of nature whereby life is brutish, short, uninteresting and anti development”.

HURIWA, reiterating earlier accusations that attacks in the southern regions are waged by members of the deep state based in Abuja, argued that it is unlikely that a self-proclaimed platform for liberation through constructive means such as IPOB and MASSOB will be the same agents of darkness seeking and working towards destroying the milestones of advancement already made in the Southeast of Nigeria and South-South which is what these senseless and misguided attacks stand for.

“Governors should deploy the huge security votes they corner monthly to engage professional private security and mercenaries to catch the unknown gunmen and end the cocktails of attacks.

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“Waiting for Buhari to solve the situation may lead to a lifetime waiting because Buhari has manifested unassailable evidence as a failure and a laggard.

“A President battling to resolve the non complex case of house break in and burglary that occurred in the usually heavily fortified Villa can’t be the best person to resolve more complex security nightmares like the activities of the unknown gunmen,” HURIWA declared.