PDP berates Buhari as Nigeria ranks third highest terrorism country in the world

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday berated President Muhammadu Buhari over the ranking of Nigeria as the third highest terrorism country in the world; noting that the rating is as a result of rising incidence of terrorism and worsening security situation in the country.

The PDP in a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary, sought the National Assembly, to upon resumption, on Tuesday, urgently use its legislative instruments to invite President Buhari to address legislature on the deteriorated security situation in the country.

The party’s position is predicated on the alarming Global Terrorism Index report by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which ranked Nigeria as the third country with the highest level of terrorism in 2019, after Iran and Afghanistan.

The PDP said the report is distressing, particularly, as its indices show that insecurity and deaths from acts of terrorism increased in Nigeria in spite of promises by the current administration.

The party noted that the IEP rating has further confirmed its position that the security of lives and property in the nation has gone beyond what the Buhari administration’s security architecture, as presently composed, can guarantee.

“Our party posits that the issue of security has gone beyond partisan and sectional sentiments as well as propaganda and now requires concerted effort by all stakeholders to compel a review of security structure and method by Mr. President.

“The PDP, as pan-Nigerian platform, urges the National Assembly to step in by persuading Mr. President to heed wise counsel and rejig his security high command so as to inject new blood to tackle our security challenges,” the statement read in part.

The party also urged the National Assembly to compel President Buhari to take a decisive step in ordering the apprehension and prosecution of perpetrators of acts of terrorism, including the mass killing in Benue, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Taraba, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Ekiti and other parts of the country under the current administration.

“The failure to track down and prosecute the perpetrators of heinous crimes had continued to embolden marauders, insurgents, bandits and kidnappers to further ravage communities and major highways, beheading compatriots, killing, maiming and taking innocent citizens captives in droves, to the extent that our nation has become the third with the highest level of terrorism in the world,” PDP declared.

It maintained that this is not the way to go, restating that such situation should not have been allowed to fester and degenerate to this abyss.