Constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome has described the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as one that has lost its legitimacy for abdicating its major duty and functions of securing Nigeria.
Ozekhome who spoke in Abuja on Saturday, December 19, while reacting to the news of the release of the 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, said Buhari has no moral justification to remain in office since he could no longer perform the essential duties of protecting lives and property of Nigerians.
Ozekhome also said the present government had continuously used propaganda to create an impression that the war against Boko Haram terrorists and bandits was being won without considering the reality on the ground.
The fiery lawyer described the abduction of the students on December 11 as a sad commentary on the security situation in the country which shows clearly that the Buhari government is not hands on with the security situation in the country.
“As far back as 2016, they were telling us that Boko Haram has been technically degraded and defeated. According to the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, the government will go and do some mop-up operations in Sambisa forest, and that was the end. I said that statement was a lie,” Ozekhome said.
“The Federal government has abdicated its duty in terms of providing security for the people of Nigeria. Whereas under section 14,15 and 16 of the constitution of Nigeria, the welfare and safety of the people are the primary functions of government.
“When the government can no longer provide welfare and security for its people, then its legitimacy becomes questionable.”
Ozekhome therefore called on Buhari to rejig the security architecture of the country and “stop exposing Nigerians to untold dangers and threats of terrorists,” as the present security situation in the country would drive foreign investors away.
“No investors will come to the country to invest where the security is so bad, where court orders are not obeyed. Where citizens’ fundamental rights are not respected,” he said.
“I don’t want to go into the conspiracy of automatic military alacrity. How much was paid as ransom? The good thing is that children were said to have been abducted and have also been said to have regained their freedom. But the question is that why is the president finding it difficult to rejig the security architecture of the country?”
