HURIWA To President Tinubu: Focus On Tackling Insecurity Not 2027 Politics

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on President Bola Tinubu to focus on tackling insecurity ravaging parts of Nigeria, not being preoccupied with scheming for his re-election in 2027.

HURIWA said Tinubu has been fixated on his 2027 second-term ambition while neglecting his primary constitutional duty of providing security to protect the lives and property of Nigerians.

In a statement on Monday, HURIWA urged the Nigerian leader to focus on dealing with the challenges of terrorism in the country, particularly by eradicating killers of innocent and law-abiding citizens and saboteurs implanted in military institutions and political offices, aiding their nefarious activities.

“The rate at which farmers, fishermen, Christian clerics are slaughtered in Plateau, Taraba, Benue and Southern Kaduna states should be a major concern to the President and his administration should work on concrete measures to take out these saboteurs of our collective national security first and foremost so we know that there is indeed a government in Nigeria,” HURIWA stated in a statement signed by its national coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.

HURIWA asserted that the President has failed to fulfill his promise to free the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and engage the restive Igbo youths in negotiations and constructive dialogues to give the people a sense of belonging.

“In Eastern Nigeria, efforts to curtail the activities of the so-called unknown gunmen have been mismanaged by the federal government even as the President has failed to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from illegal detention, which ultimately complicated the security situation in all of South East of Nigeria.”

The human rights group accused President Tinubu of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians being decimated by terrorists while remaining fixated on his 2027 reelection bid.

“It is painful that at a time that soldiers, civilians are wantonly slaughtered by a multiplicity of armed non-state actors all across Nigeria, the president who is the commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the federation is preoccupied with the prospects of his re-election for a final 4-year tenure with nearly two years to end his first term in office.

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“How can the President be this insensitive to be concerned only about his RE-ELECTION, even as the citizens who are expected to cast their votes in 2027 are being decimated by terrorists? Who does the President expect to participate in the next general elections if the heightened state of insecurity is not effectively curbed?”

The group reminded President Tinubu about section 14 of the 1999 constitution, which stipulated that sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom the government, through this Constitution, derives all its powers and authority and that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.

The Rights group stated that two years down the line since he was sworn in, the fundamental question people are asking is whether Tinubu’s administration has gotten an effective security strategy for stemming the tide of insecurity in the country

The group asserted that since the inauguration of the administration in May 2023, it has had a pathetic security record.

HURIWA claimed that Tinubu has so far failed to implement evidence-based interventions to effectively stop the wanton slaughter of citizens by non-state actors.

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It cited various groups, including Amnesty International and Beacon Consulting, a security management firm, that have released security analytical reports revealing rising killings and abductions across the country since inception of Tinubu’s administration.

HURIWA, therefore, appealed to President Tinubu to concentrate on confronting the huge threats to national security.

It urged the president to “engage the services of armed freelance mercenaries to assist the regular Nigerian military and police to defeat terrorists who are expanding their areas of attacks all across Nigeria just as it is shocking that the armed forces are unable to decimate these terrorists since over ten years that the war on terror started.”