BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

LAGOS -The Coalition of Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria, CENN, comprising 16 ethnic groups from across the federation, rose from a meeting, yesterday, and likened the recent attacks by the Boko Haram group in the North as an act of war or foreign invasion against the country.

To this end, the groups, which reviewed socio-political and economy situation in the country, urged the government to move to quickly and confront the menace  to prevent further international embarrassment and  loss of lives and property.

In a statement signed by 16 representatives of the ethnic nationalities in Lagos, led by Dr. Frederick  Fasehun, founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, they condemned the indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians and uniformed personnel by the Boko Haram group, while demanding that “the extremist activities of the group  be urgently curtailed and the criminal elements urgently brought to justice.”

Reviewing the incapacitation of the security apparatus to curtail the activities of the group, they called for the   “restructuring of the police to reflect better remunerations, with the Force employing more youths, while the  Sheriff system of policing should be encouraged to facilitate localised intelligence-gathering and crime-fighting; just as governors as Chief Security Officers of their states must also have firm control of the police in their localities.”