Terrorist threat: Set up Civilian JTF — HURIWA urges FCT Minister

By Ogaga Ariemu

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has urged Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mohammed Bello to set up Civilian Joint Task Force for the protection of residents against terrorist threat, insecurity.

The Rights group has also blamed the National Assembly for embarking on recess when the nation is under severe security threats by terrorists just as the Rights group has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to listen and take action on the warning from the Nasarawa State’s governor on the presence of Islamic terrorists that have besieged Abuja the Federal capital territory.

In a statement released to Nigerian NewsDirect on Monday, the National Coordinator HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said the decision by the FCT Minister Mohammed Bello to rally the support and partnership of all heads of security institutions in the contiguous states to Abuja to embark on joint security patrols was a great idea that ought to be sustained long after the current heightened state of insecurity abates because in its words, security is not an ad-hoc arrangement but effective security is to be made as a long term objective.

The Rights group has asked that a civilian joint task force be established with membership drawn from just retired operatives of the security Service and volunteers whose background checks must be adequately conducted to add to the existing security structures in the Federal Capital Territory.

HURIWA has called on president Muhammadu Buhari to brace up and battle terrorists as a statesman and not give room to suspicions that his administration has a Sinister agenda to hand over government to Islamic terrorists so Nigeria becomes like Afghanistan governed by terrorists.

“We are worried that the commander-in-chief President Muhammadu Buhari got 42 reports of possible breaches of security of Abuja by terrorists sent to him by the DSS but he failed to take proactive steps not until the terrorists indeed attacked Kuje prisons and have since attacked Zuba and Bwari with scores of soldiers killed.

“This tardiness of president calls into question his state of mind and the need for the national assembly to act fast to avert the collapse of constitutional democracy by conducting medical examination of the state of mind of president Buhari in line with the Constitutional Provision with a view to ascertaining why he refused to act on 42 intelligent reports sent to him by the DSS as disclosed by the Deputy Speaker.”