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In the meantime, one security crisis after another continues to ravage the northern part of the country. The situation got to a head when religious extremists were reported to have murdered up to 43 farmers going about their business in a day. Other sources reported that the total number of casualties in the Zabarmari massacre was over 100. Boko Haram has not only established makeshift territories within Nigeria, they are now said to be forcefully collecting tax from farmers before they can be allowed to harvest their farm produce. This is the most egregious stage the extremist group demands would get to. This is the reason the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has asked that President Muhammadu Buhari resign from his position following what the group described as the president’s inability to protect Nigerians. The NEF made their position known in a statement by its Publicity and Advocacy Director, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed. If the president has failed in his primary mandate of ensuring that the security and welfare of citizens remain peak, then it is easy to agree with the groups calling for the president’s resignation.
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This was the same scenarios that played out in formerly ISIS-occupied regions in Syria and Iraq before the terrorist group was quashed. The situation is so dire that the government has lost the monopoly of violence and can no longer secure lives and properties in these zones. In these territories occupied by the terrorists and insurgents, the Federal Government and the military have become the illegitimate government even as Boko Haram continues to receive tax from citizens. In Nigeria, the Borno state governor has been ambushed twice while travelling along Maiduguri road. Bandits and kidnappers incessantly attack unsuspecting travellers along the Kaduna-Abuja so much that road travel has been abandoned by many citizens. Farmers have to pay Boko Haram revenues which should be accruing to the Federal and State government instead. And that is why the massacre was a symbolic message to other farmers who may be willing to trust the Federal Government’s protection over them, the Boko Haram. Locals may now have been indirectly pressured into dumping all elements of Nigerian patriotism and instead allying with the Boko Haram which has conquered them to provide security. For those who really want the North secured, they are aware that they have to demand responsibility from the government at all levels. They know that excusing a particular administration in the name of ethnic affiliation will do the security of the northern region and Nigeria at large no good. The quest to secure the north and Nigeria as a whole should be a collective drive. Source: Premium Times NG Featured Image Source: HumAngle
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