Security Agencies Raise Alarm, Allege Plots to Unsettle Northern Nigeria by Desperate Politicians
- Security agencies say there are plans by some desperate politicians to cause havoc in northern Nigeria
- According to the agencies, the plan is to sponsor violent protests across the region to discredit the Buhari administration
- Four governors, a former governor from Sokoto and a prominent traditional ruler, were said to be part of the plot
FCT, Abuja - Security agencies said they have uncovered plans by two serving governors from the northeast and northwest to unsettle northern Nigeria ahead of the 2023 general elections.
According to the security agencies, the prominent governors are leaders of a major political party working with a former governor of Sokoto state.
Source: Facebook
They are alleged to have started recruiting different organisations, religious bodies, and youths from the northern and southern parts of the country in order to achieve their aims.
Leadership newspaper reports that a discreet meeting was held at the governor’s lodge of one of the governors in Abuja on Friday, December 10, where the plans were allegedly hatched to perfect the disruption.
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One of the sources quoted in the report said another meeting was held on the same day at a house on Usama Street, Maitama, Abuja where the plot was perfected.
The source said:
“Following the meetings, the governors and their cronies immediately put in motion activities to actualise their aims, and with the help of a popular youth identified as Sheriff, town hall meetings were held in Sokoto and other parts of the country where youths, non-governmental organisations, and religious bodies, among others, were courted to join their plans.”
Corroborating the allegation, another source also said the arrowheads of the group also agreed to employ the services of northern coalition groups and non-state actors to create civil disobedience within the country and the north in particular so as to create the impression that the federal government has failed Nigerians, and then present themselves as the best alternative in 2023.
He said:
“The prominent former Sokoto state governor also went ahead to grant an interview on December 11, 2021, where he blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for attending a book launch instead of visiting victims of bandits attacks, all with the aim of discrediting the federal government.”
The source also stated that from available intelligence, they have already courted aggrieved politicians, prominent respected northern traditional rulers to join forces with them.
Group to Buhari: Strengthen DIA to win war against insurgency, banditry
Recall that a coalition of Civil Society Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) recently urged President Buhari to strengthen the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in order to win the war against insurgency and banditry in Nigeria.
A statement sent to Legit.ng jointly signed by, Dr. Aliyu Bello of Peace and Conflict Resolution Initiative and Ambassador Jude Uchenna of Alliance for Justice and Peace gave the advice to the president.
The group noted that the failure of the DIA in providing links that will lead the troops on the battlefield as well as rancour within the military hierarchy has affected the fight against insurgency and banditry.
Group blames intelligence failure for the increase in terrorists, bandits' attacks
Earlier, a coalition of 76 NGOs and civil society activists knocked the intelligence arms of the military and the Department of State Services for continued attacks on military formations and other infrastructure of the state by terrorists.
The activists also lamented over the kidnapping and robbery by bandits saying the attacks were not only a setback to the war against insecurity but a blatant embarrassment to the armed forces and Nigeria in general.
The group particularly made reference to the recent kidnapping of travellers in broad daylight along Abuja-Kaduna road, an attack in Borno that resulted in the killing of an army chief and three other soldiers, and several others as clear instances of intelligence failure.
Source: Legit.ng
