Sam Ikeotuonye
Lagos — Nigeria’s oil industry senior workers have joined in the call on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the service chiefs in view of the rising insecurity in the country.
The workers made the demand under the umbrella of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN.
Senators and members of the House of Representatives last week called on the president to relieve the service chiefs of their duties following their inability to arrest the deteriorating security situation in the nation.
PENGASSAN said in a statement on Monday that it could not guarantee security in the oil and gas sector if the growing insecurity across the country was not brought under control by the Federal Government.
According to it, the service chiefs have failed in their responsibilities and should be sacked if they fail to resign honourably.
“PENGASSAN is in support of the demands by the House of Representatives for the immediate resignation of the service chiefs for failing to tackle the rising wave of criminality and alarming increase of insecurity in our great nation.
“The lawmakers also accused the national security apparatus of transforming the security situation in the country into a cash cow for their self-aggrandisement and therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack them if they fail to resign honourably,” the statement read.
The association further said in the statement: “To us as an association, the service chiefs have overstayed their tenure in office in the various arms of the nation’s Armed Forces, thereby contravening the Armed Forces Laws on retirement and disengagement from active service and have therefore become lethargic.
“On a daily basis, stories of killings in states such as Borno, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa and the recent beheading of the Adamawa State CAN Chairman have saturated the mass media. The Boko Haram Sect, for example, has been relentless in the shedding of blood and the destruction of properties of innocent victims.
“We condemn in totality these atrocities and find it highly unacceptable.”
The association also called for a declaration of state of emergency and total overhaul of the security apparatus
“We hinge this renewed call on the fact that the security networks as presently constituted have lost its value and focus and something drastic need to be done before the country drifts into anarchy,” PENGASSAN warned.
