Katsina Attack: Atiku Reveals Why Buhari ‘Cannot Win War On Terror’

Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed deep regret over Friday’s attack on the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, where about 400 students reportedly went missing after gunmen invaded their hostels.

President Muhammadu Buhari was said to have barely settled down in his Daura hometown after arriving the state on Friday when the gunmen struck the school.

Atiku described the attack as, “a very unwelcome escalation of the spate of insecurity in the nation,” while calling on the federal government to declare a state of emergency on insecurity in troubled states.

According to Atiku, the Buhari administration has failed to win the war against terror in the last five years because it has continued to deploy same strategies that aren’t yielding results.

“While I urge our nation’s law enforcement agencies to immediately swing to action and rescue the missing students, I am nevertheless conscious of the fact that we cannot continue to be reactionary in our response to the growing insecurity in Nigeria. Something has to give,” the former vice president said in a Facebook post.

“I therefore call on the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency in states bedevilled by banditry and terrorism, for an offensive and decisive war on terror and insecurity.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the emergency I call for should follow the steps prescribed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), and case law, by leaving all democratically elected state and local government structures intact.

“The rationale is quite simple: We cannot win the war on terror by continuing with the same strategies we have deployed over the last five years. That they have not worked is very glaring, with the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara incidence being the latest in a long line of proofs.

“If we must get better results, we must implement better strategies. Strategies that may have to include the temporary stoppage of the boarding school system in all the affected states, in favour of a day students’ approach, until the situation is brought under control.

“Strategies that must include 24 hours armed military guard for each school in the affected states.

Atiku added that, “No sacrifice is too great to make to return law and order to the affected communities, and that must be the singular focus of the Federal Government until this menace is eradicated.”