Revival Group (SERG) has warned the Federal Government and the five
Governors in the eastern states not to take steps that could worsen the
security situation in the region, saying that “the cost of reckless
utterances and unguarded actions may consume the zone.”
The SERG in a statement signed by its President and National
Coordinator, Chief Willy Ezugwu said “if the Federal and state
governments continue to act or speak irrationally, the entire country
will be worse for it.
“There is no where in the world that a people who have been nursing a
feeling of injustice over the years is confronted with the coercive
powers of the state without regrettable consequences.
“In case we have forgotten, the extrajudicial killing of Mohammed Yusuf,
the founder of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, by the state forces was what
directly or indirectly led to the escalation of the terrorist activities
destroying the economy of Northern Nigeria.
“Since the federal government failed to employ a carrot and stick
approach early enough, we have seen insurgency in the North worsening as
bandits and Boko Haram fighters compete for prominence in the whole
country.
“Also, killer herders that President Muhammadu Buhari openly admitted
that they are not Nigerians have slowly spread into the Southern parts
of the country.
“We therefore warn that a declaration of a state of emergency in any
part of the South East will be counterproductive with dire consequences.
“The deprived and excluded people of the South East are already angry
that the Federal Government carelessly failed to protect them from
killer herdsmen when they needed security protection.
“The Federal government’s threat of declaration of a state of emergency
in the region is already being seen as a rigging strategy ahead of the
November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
“If a state of emergency has not been declared in Zamfara, Sokoto,
Kaduna, Niger, and Katsina states where bandits have virtually taken
over most of the local governments, and telephone services cut, what is
the justification for a threat to declare a state of emergency in
Eastern Nigeria?
“South East governors who are opening the doors of confrontation should
know that the inferno of the crisis which is looming in the South East
may consume all.
“If Northern Governors and clerics can visit bandits, negotiate with
terrorists, and even grant amnesty to killers of our sons and daughters
in the armed forces, what is the big deal in dialoguing with youths of
the South East who have been crying for justice in the region?
“How would anyone think that complicating the already bad situation
through unguarded statements and actions be deemed a reasonable option
in the circumstance?”, the SERG queried.