The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) yesterday made its position known on the crisis rocking Rivers State and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to order an immediate end to the hostilities.
The Forum also faulted the role of the police in the saga and joined the call for the removal of Rivers Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu.
The spokesman of the group, Prof Ango Abdullahi, expressed concern over what he described as “the alarming desperation of politicians to manoeuvre themselves in vantage positions for the electoral contests of 2015”, saying it is a major threat to the elections and, ultimately, the democratic process.
“The clumsy and embarrassing conduct and fallout of the election in the Governors’ Forum, the engineered crisis in the ruling party, the role of the spouse of the President in affairs of the state, are signs that Nigeria is descending into anarchy and lawlessness rarely seen in our history.
“The hands of the Presidency are clearly visible in all these events that appear to draw inspiration from the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan to stay in power in 2015.The most recent developments in Rivers state represent a new low in the shameful conduct of political office holders at the highest levels and they should be condemned by all Nigerians.
“It is a great pity that those who swore to defend our Constitution and to uphold the rule of law are the same people who use violence as a political too, and serially abuse the power entrusted to them. They have abandoned the responsibilities entrusted to them in pursuit of more power and the unending persecution of imaginary enemies. They endanger our democracy and national security. They must be called to question and asked to stop now.”
Abdulahi urged President Jonathan to order call the warring parties in the state to order and stop using the police to settle his political disputes.
The elders added: “the Nigeria police is not a political party and certainly not an arm of the Peoples Democratic Party. The governor and people of Rivers State, as indeed all citizens of Nigeria deserve the full protection of the law and of their rights to live in peace under state guaranteed security.”
On the military offensive against Boko Haram, he said, “We welcome the marked decline in widespread hostilities between the Jamaatu Ahlil Sunnah Liddawati Wal Jihad and security agencies, but we condemn in strongest terms, the targeting of school children by yet-to-be identified murderers in Yobe state.”
