Opposition has hijacked parliamentarian forum, says group

The Pro-Nigeria Elders Council (PRONECO) has accused the Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) of pursuing personal interest.

PRONECO’s said this in reaction to call for the removal of the nation’s service chiefs over widespread insecurity.

Inaugurated by Senate President Ahmad Lawan in October, the YPF says its objective is to secure the inclusion and participation of youths in the process of deepening Nigeria’s democracy.

However, the Pro-Nigeria Elders Council believe the group has been hijacked by the opposition to carry out “its dirty work”.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja, Bala Kuta, PRONECO publicity secretary, said the YPF is merely acting a script with its call for overhaul of the security architecture.

PRONECO, therefore, urged law enforcement agencies to be on red alert.

Read statement below:

Gentlemen of the press, you must have noted the upsurge in the number of persons and organizations calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the military service chiefs. This has been a long-time development with a recent twist. The recent twist to this call is that it has become systematic, which has prompted us to see a pattern and aggregation.

In essence, the demands from some quarters and individuals for the service chiefs to be fired from their posts is being teleguided by those that have vested interests that require that the nation’s security architecture be dismantled. Their objectives cannot be achieved as so long as the current crop of service chiefs are in office hence the desperation to force them out of office even when it is not in the interest on the country.

We have not lost sight of the fact that one Senator Eyinaya Abaribe recently demanded the resignation of President Buhari on account of these same service chiefs. It was not surprising that this same Senator is the one that has been propping up the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a terrorist group that has been outlawed by the courts of the land.

It is no surprise that the position canvassed by Senator Abaribe has now been taken up by other federal lawmakers from other zones, particularly the north-east. Their demand for these fine officers and commanders to be sacked therefore becomes understandable even though unacceptable.

These are ploys that are well known and for which the service chiefs have made robust responses to ensure that the country remains safe hence the angst against them by the same people that want to turn the country upside down. We understand their anger in this regard although we have no sympathies for people that want to destroy our country for us.

We also want a professional and clinical probe of the security breaches across the country. Clearly, if the growing spate of insecurity was the concern these persons, they would have by now made a fair assessment of the situation and come up with nationalistic solutions. But because the reason informed them to demand that Mr. President and the Service Chiefs should leave office are selfish in nature, they have not been able to make useful input to advance the great work being done. They are too obsessed to know that Mr President and his team are working day and night to restore peace and normalcy to the land.

PRONECO therefore wishes to commend the wise decision of Mr. President to keep the Security Chiefs in view of the war situation that our country has found herself in with both internal and external aggressors.