For approving the purchase of 10 Toyota Land Cruiser V8 sport utility vans (SUVs) worth N1.145 billion for the Niger Republic to tackle insecurity at a time the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on a protracted strike, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) have descended heavily on President Muhammadu Buhari, describing the decision as the height of insensitivity.
Stating in a statement that the current administration has again, allegedly shown its disdain for the betterment of Nigeria’s education sector, CNNP, in a statement by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, queried: “How can Nigeria be fighting insecurity in another country, while we are breeding insecurity at home by keeping energetic young Nigerians hopeless and idle for over five months due to ASUU strike?”
Describing the purchase as a gesture that “amounts to unclothing Peter to clothe Paul,” the group insisted that “the action is most insensitive to the continued suffering of Nigerian citizens, who have not been able to have three square meals in the last seven years of President Buhari administration.”
CNPP urged “the National Assembly to waste no time in impeaching the President for funding a foreign country under the guise of improvements in her security logistics, but failed to tackle insecurity at home, seeing that the vehicles in question were not security patrol vans, but executive SUVs.”
In another statement by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the rights body said the “nepotistic gesture shows where Buhari’s original allegiance and patriotism lie as evident in his many constructions linking Nigeria to the desert country.”
It argued that the “action like many others is antithetical to the oaths of office sworn to by President Buhari because he has allowed his personal interest to undermine national interest.”
Also, NNPP, in a statement, yesterday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Agbo Major, said it was insensitive for Buhari to be “playing Father Christmas at a time terrorists have invaded every nook and cranny of Nigeria, including Abuja, the nation’s capital.”
It lamented that Nigerians have continued to live in fear following activities of rampaging terrorists, who freely attack their homes, farmlands, highways, railways, airports, offices and security facilities.
According to the party, ASUU has been on strike for months due to the Federal Government’s inability to meet its demands combined with the free fall of the naira that has crippled businesses, adding that, “we now have a growing army of redundant and unemployed youths, who can be enticed and recruited into criminal activities.”
THEGUARDIAN
