The Northern Civil Society Organisations, under the umbrella of the Coalition of Northern Groups, have said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the 19 Northern Governors are no longer reliable to provide the needed security of lives and property in the region.

Addressing the press in Minna, the North Central Coordinator of the Group, Mohammed A. Mohammed, said “the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and state governments have failed totally in the major areas of providing security of lives and properties of citizens and in ensuring a secure economic environment in the North in particular.”

The group stressed the need for citizens to stand up to resist the renewed assaults on communities and the economic fortunes of the North by bandits and insurgents.

“Communities in Niger, Benue and Plateau states, in particular, have been abandoned to the mercy of kidnappers, bandits and other armed criminals, compounded by the threat of infiltration of Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters into forests around Minna and Abuja.

“On a daily basis, communities and highways around Kagara, Rafi Local Government of Niger State and neighbouring local governments are being attacked, innocent people killed, many kidnapped while schools are forced to close,” he said.

Mohammed argued that it is of necessity to hold the president and the state governors responsible for widespread threats to the life of citizens without any deliberate effort to curb the menace.

The group also rejected the plan by the federal government to hike the price of petrol to N340 in 2022, pointing out that it will further worsen the hardship already caused by insecurity.

(Daily Trust)