The Peoples Democratic Party has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on security over the growing spate of attacks and kidnappings across the country.
In a communiqué issued at the end of an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of the party on Thursday in Abuja, PDP’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, backed the call by the House of Representatives for the President to urgently fix the worsening insecurity.
“NEC urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately declare a national state of emergency on security,” the statement partly read.
“NEC also urged President Buhari to, without delay, convoke a national conference on Security so as to galvanize ideas and options to tackle insecurity in our country.
“NEC lamented the heightened insecurity pervading all parts of our nation due primarily to the misrule of President Muhammed Buhari and All Progressives Congress as well as their failure to decisively tackle the menace of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, bloodletting and acts of violence in our country.
“NEC further commended the efforts of governors, senators, House of Representatives members and other officials elected on the platform of the PDP in forcefully seeking solutions to the spate of insecurity in our country.”
Nigeria has been experiencing a series of security threats ranging from terrorism, banditry, militancy, cultism among others in several parts of the country.
The country has been battling terrorism for more than a decade which has killed 36,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in the northeast.
The Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) split from the jihadist group Boko Haram in 2016 and has since become a dominant threat in Nigeria, attacking troops and bases while killing and kidnapping passengers at bogus checkpoints.
On March 1, jihadist fighters burnt down a United Nations humanitarian compound in the town of Dikwa after dislodging troops, killing six civilians.
Nigeria’s jihadist violence has spread to neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.
