Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of being comfortable with the state of insecurity in the country, insisting that the president’s statement that “state police is not an option”, suggests that the situation may not be about to change.
Dr. Ayu also criticised the president for pushing the blame for the incessant killing of farmers by terrorists on locals along grazing routes.
These statements were contained in a brief response by Dr. Ayu to President Buhari’s interview on Channels Television on Wednesday evening.
A statement from Dr. Ayu’s Media Office quoted the PDP national chairman as declaring that “it appears the continued killings in some localities of Nigeria, particularly in the North, and more specifically in President Buhari’s home state of Katsina, may not matter to him” with his statement that state police is not an option.
The full statement which Dr. Ayu personally signed, read: “Watching President Muhammadu Buhari this evening on Channels TV during an interview session was a gratuitous waste of time because there was nothing new coming from the president.
“As has been said by many before now, to expect anything new from our president would be a misplaced and unfortunate expectation.
“From the economy, to insecurity, killing of innocent farmers by terrorists (which some erroneously term farmer/herder clashes) and other sundry issues, President Buhari honoured his calling as a president who has nothing new to offer.
“He again repeated the impotent argument regarding killing of farmers by terrorists, reminding Nigerians of grazing routes.
“Well, what the president failed to reference is that the herders plying the grazing routes before, neither carried AK47s, nor did they engage in raping of women and despoliation of the assets of those along the routes.
“Mr. President’s position of saying the locals should be asked what went wrong, flies in the face of reason and contemporary realities.
“Tied to that but not limited in scope is the issue of insecurity and a reorganisation of the Nigeria Police to accommodate present, peculiar, environmental and social challenges.
“In President Buhari’s view, state police is not an option. Yet, it appears the continued killings in some localities of Nigeria, particularly in the North, and more specifically in his home state of Katsina, may not matter, hence, the need to have a security system that feeds on local intelligence and nuances, which the federal police cannot adequately provide, is not an option to our president.
“To him, it appears that continuing the same process while expecting a different output and outcome is the best way to go.