A group under the aegis of Coalition for Peace and Stability, Tuesday paralyzed commercial activities at the popular Wuse Market in Abuja in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s success over terrorism in the country.
Members of COPS, who marched from Wuse Market to the Presidential Villla, likened President Buhari to the biblical David, who has succeeded in conquering terrorism in the entity called Nigeria.
Comrade Abdulmumini Tijani, the national Coordinator of the group, who, spoke on behalf of the group, called on the Nigerian military to do all within it power to finish off the remnants of Boko Haram in the shortest time possible so that Nigeria would be in a position to celebrate total freedom from the blood-thirsty terrors.
Tijani said, “The Institute for Economics and Peace has however auspiciously accelerated our achievement of this objective when it released the Global Terrorism Index 2017. From what is in the news about the report, it shows that the number of those killed in terror attacks have reduced by 80%. What we understand by this is that eight out of every ten persons that Boko Haram or other terrorists would have killed are alive.
For us the Coalition for Peace and Stability, this is a testimony that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to fulfilling his campaign promise of restoring security in the country. It is remarkable that keeping this promise has international impact because the global terrorism related deaths fell since the figures for Nigeria dropped. It is our earnest hope that this international impact will translate into positive gains like restored investors’ interest in Nigeria.
“We also expect that those supporting evil by providing sustenance to Boko Haram will see this report as reason to cut off the lifeline they provide to terrorists. Human life is precious and sacred and nothing should be done to cut it short for whatsoever reason.
Our coalition not only congratulate President Buhari on this positive report but also commend Mr President for this achievement considering that most of the efforts that have gone into degrading and defeating Boko Haram are homegrown. The President was able to achieve the improvement in terrorism ranking without going cap in hand to beg for foreign intervention.
“We also commend the Nigerian Army under the leadership it the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen. Tukur Buratai, who leads a military to be proud of. Soldiers under his command continue to perform no mean feats even with funding constraints, harassment from international NGOs and blockade of weapons supply by some interested countries.
COPS urge stakeholders, NGOs and human rights organizations and all well-meaning Nigerians to increase their support of President Buhari’s war on terror because our desire is to record zero terrorism related deaths. The 80% reduction implies that there are still “20% deaths that are needless. Our belief is that when Mr President and the military get more support the remnants of Boko Haram can be further degraded to a point where they are not able to cause sorrows and tears among us anymore.
“While calling for support for President Buhari, we urge his administration to dutifully take a critical look at the Global Terrorism Ranking to see what areas improvements can be made in a way that more gains are made by our military in the year 2017/2018. We particularly want the strengthening of the military to finish off the remnant of Boko Haram in the shortest time possible to that Nigeria would be a position to celebrate a total freedom from terrorists killing citizens.”
COPS further appealed to Nigeria’s international partners to take note of what the country has achieved with minimal support and to on the basis of that extend to Nigeria the support needed to restore peace to the West African sub-region.
However, at the time of filing the report, an official representative of the presidency was yet to receive the group as President Buhari was said to be in a meeting with two other Presidents who were visiting at the time.
On his part, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, who received the group on behalf of the President said, Nigerians did not make any mistake by voting in President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 this is because all the promises made in the build up to elections have been redeemed. He said, “the president promised to tackle terrorism, today terrorists are running away from Nigeria”. He blamed the past administration for allowing terrorism to fester so long to the point of becoming a monster.
He stated further that, the fight against terror has been the President’s major focus hence the deployment of all arsenals to its combat. “today we have finished dealing with terror and have shifted focus to protecting our neighbours this is why we have concentrated efforts in the Delta areas where we’ve been very helpful in the fight against sea piracy, and protection of oil installations”
Mallam Shehu further announced that the President has just purchased a night-vision aircraft for the Nigerian Air Force with the assurance that aerial surveillance will continue at night for the total eradication of the remnants of terror elements where ever they may be.
He thanked the group for their show of support and encouraged them to sustain the tempo.
