Insecurity: Northern Youths Threaten Mass Protest, Demand Sack Of Service Chiefs

Northern youths, under the auspices of Arewa Youth Consultative Council (AYCC), yesterday, vowed to embark on a mass protest should President Muhammadu Buhari continue to parade the security chiefs in the country. 

The Arewa youths also expressed concern over series of abandoned federal roads across the North, particularly the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, which they said, had now turned into another death trap. 

The AYCC National President, Alhaji Zaid Ayuba, gave the warning at a press conference in Kano. 

Zaid, who frowned at the continuous activities of Boko Haram, kidnappers, bandits, cattle rustlers, and armed robbers, lamented that insecurity had led to the killing of northerners. 

The Arewa youths, while condemning the continued stay at the home of students of higher learning across the country, demanded immediate amicable resolution between the Federal Government and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to save young people from idleness. 

“As youths, we demand that the service chiefs are changed immediately and appointment of competent younger ones with the required energy, vigor, and zeal to curb insecurity as soon as possible. As we appreciate the contribution of the service chiefs over these years, let others come and apply different strategies to attain different results. 

“Set up ‘Anti-Terrorism/Kidnapping Volunteer Force (ATKVF)’ in all the 19 states of the North that will accommodate every active youth in all villages. Passionate volunteers, if properly supported by government, will create an unimaginable impact in this fight! 

“Approve the use of proper weapons by all-volunteer forces and Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), including vigilantes, but under strict training and monitoring by the military and other law enforcement agencies. Compensate all victims of insecurity from 1999 to date. 

“Compensation will drastically reduce the high level of poverty and the pains of thousands of families affected by terrorism, most of whom may even support the government to curb the menace. 

“Government should immediately engage all stakeholders in the fight against insecurity, including clerics, traditional rulers, youth leaders, community elders, political office holders, and security experts in the 19 northern states. Let us go beyond community policing. Let us engage every capable member of each family and institution to end insecurity in northern Nigeria. 

“The media should be used strategically to honor, encourage, respect, and boost the morale of the military, police, and other law enforcement agents fighting the war against terrorism. It is high time we all started showing much respect to those that always make sacrifices with their lives to save ours. 

“The Federal Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, should be removed from that office. He may be taken to a different ministry but not Works and Housing,” Zaid said, among other things.