Mouthpiece of northern Nigeria, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has told President Muhammadu Buhari to show more seriousness in fighting the security challenges bedeviling the country.

The forum said Nigeria has come under the siege of bandits and terrorists while the Buhari government is ineffective in tackling the dangers.

The ACF, led by a former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, said Nigerians would justifiably conclude that the Buhari administration needs to do more to quell the crises.

In a statement by its Secretary General, Murtala Aliyu, ACF said: “Over the past few months, the security crises we face in Nigeria has been deepening and there is a dangerous escalation of violence and bloodshed. Criminal gangs, heavily armed bandits, armed robbers, secessionist insurgents along with those that call themselves soldiers of so-called Caliphate, have laid siege to Nigeria; more so in the northern states.

“The highly coordinated attack on the Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital, Abuja, on July 5, 2022, and the mass escape of hardened criminals, many of whom are Boko Haram terrorists, has triggered an unprecedented wave of apprehension and panic among the long-suffering people, particularly of the North.

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“Coming around the time the advance convoy of Mr. President heading to Daura and long after the deadly attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28, 2022, in which many people were killed and a lot more kidnapped, the question on the lips of the public is: how and where will these crises, which are unprecedented in severity, leave us?

“We noted that the response of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Kuje Prison tragedy in particular was to offer the familiar cocktail of platitudes, of sermons, condemnations and yet more sermons. As usual, the President asked the security services to ‘investigate’ the outbreak and find out what led to it. Presumably, in the view of the President, that was all that he was expected or required to do in the circumstances.

“Although we count ourselves amongst his ardent supporters and have always wished him well, Nigeria’s rapid descent into strife, violence and lawlessness is getting to a point at which we can no longer afford to tell him only that which he wants to hear. We do need to tell the President what he also needs to hear.

“We simply are unable to find any courteous or less painful words to describe the feeling of utter frustration among the broad masses of Nigeria, especially in the North, arising from the ineffectual management of the security crises by the President.

“The President, in his Sallah message, promised to deal with the situation before the end of his tenure. However, as long as the crises remain unabating, Nigerians will justifiably conclude that the government is ineffective and needs to do more if they will ever be able to quell the crises.

“Probably because President Buhari is unable or unwilling to hold his appointees responsible for any deterioration of the security situation and some other socioeconomic sectors under their watch, the vast amount of money and other resources being pumped into the security agencies have largely been ineffective.