NSA’s Memo to Security Chiefs: CHRICED Calls for Arrest of Abba Kyari to Address Usurpation of President’s Powers
Like all well-meaning and long-suffering citizens of Nigeria, the Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED) is seriously dismayed by the latest indications from the Presidency pointing at the unacceptable usurpation, and misuse of Presidential powers by Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. Even more disturbing is the evidence of how such shenanigans have seriously undermined the nation’s security architecture. As would be seen from the memo authored by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Munguno to service chiefs detailing severe communication breaches lines, the issuing of unlawful orders and other infractions, which have distorted the effectiveness of the security architecture of the country; there is no mistaking the fact that the institution of the Presidency, which belongs to the people of Nigeria, has been hijacked to advance selfish and self-serving interests. CHRICED strongly condemns the corruption of the Presidency as an institution, and its use by an unelected official to pursue narrow objectives, which are antithetical to the national interest. At a time the country is at war on all fronts, and defenceless citizens are being slaughtered by terrorists, bandits, robbers and kidnappers, these are not the kinds of vibes the people of Nigeria deserve.
Going by the weighty issues raised in the said memo by the NSA, and their implications for the security of lives and properties of citizens, CHRICED calls for immediate arrest and prosecution of Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to the President who has been masquerading as de-facto President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We call on the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council to live up to their oath of offices by taking drastic measure to arrest the drift in the Presidency to save our democracy and restore effective governance. We call on all well-meaning organizations across the country and international community to speak up and pressure President Muhammadu Buhari to halt the current absence of a bright vortex of authority. If President Buhari feels that he is too weak or tired to take charge of governance, which he is elected to do by the people, the best alternative would be to resign his office as President, rather than subject the nation to ridicule by allowing Abba kyari-led cabal to hijack the machinery of governance in the country, particularly tampering with the nation’s security.
President Buhari is the person the Nigerian electorate entrusted with their mandate. No one voted Abba Kyari into office, and as such, it is highly insulting to the sensibilities of Nigerian people for an unelected person to be exercising the mandate of the office of the President. For the umpteenth time, CHRICED insists that the usurpation of Presidential powers by an unelected impostor no matter how close to the corridors of power in Aso Rock stands rejected by the people. If Abba Kyari or other persons feel interested in exercising the powers of the President, they should be courageous enough to approach the electorate, to get a proper mandate from the people. As far as he has not been elected President, it is equivalent to impersonation to be using the back-door antics to assume the position of President. For us, such acts are treasonable, treacherous, rebellious, disloyal and subversive because they are perpetrated in defiance and disregard of the Nigerian Constitution.
Those who engage in the usurpation of powers beyond what is defined in their roles as aides to the President make the country a laughing stock in the comity of nations. Importantly, it is significant that the NSA has pointed at the meddlesomeness of the Chief of Staff as a significant factor in the severe security reversal being experienced across the country. Interpreted another way, the message is that the security architecture has been lacking in coordinated and focused action points because an interloper with no constitutional powers has taken delight in interfering in the mandate of security agencies, without minding how citizens are being slaughtered all over the country. What this further demonstrates is that the officials in command position within the nation’s security system have become beholden to an unelected entity to the point of compromising the nation’s security. As such, the lives of the ordinary men in the rank and file of the armed forces are carelessly put in harm’s way as a result of the petty scheming in the corridors of power. The result is the avoidable bloodletting across the country as citizens now cower in fear of attacks by criminals. Although Nigerians have suffered many low blows as a result of corruption, abuse of power and bad governance over the years, nothing annoys more than a man who has no mandate from the Nigerian electorate dishing out orders to the head of the nation’s armed services as if he was the Commander-in-Chief. President Buhari must immediately put a stop to this if he does not want to erase whatever is left of the goodwill he previously enjoyed, but which has now been frittered away by his lethargy and the activities of those taking advantage of their closeness to him.
A stitch in time saves nine!
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Signed:
Comrade Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi
Executive Director
