The Young Journalists Forum (YJF) has called for the immediate redeployment of corps members from the endlessly volatile states, adding that the group may result to court action if NYSC refuses to act accordingly.
According to a statement signed by its president, Ayodele Samuel and Zacheaus Somorin, secretary, it said that the brutal killing of Senator Dantong and a state lawmaker in Plateau State had again given credence the hard reality that the state was still being held hostage by ‘loony killers’ and ‘cold warriors’.
‘’The sycophantic attitude of the leadership of the? NYSC calls for national concern as there is no longer any rational reason in posting corps members to the state where there have been preponderant reprisal killings between the Hausas and the natives of the state,’’ the statement read in part.
The corps members posted to the state had, during the weekend, held the NYSC Director-General to ransom, demanding their redeployment to other safer states.
YJF condemned what he called the intentional feigning of ignorance of the youth ministry and NYSC as regards the cold war that had engulfed the state since 2001 in which has already claimed the lives of many of the corps members.
“While it is a? reality that some influential individuals within the North have always been pressurising the NYSC to post corps members to their region, its quite disheartening that the NYSC leadership has always been dancing to their tune,” the statement added.
The journalists described as mere “verbal ejaculation” the empty promises made by the Plateau State government that the lives and properties of the corps members are safe even when there has never been any means to accommodate them safely after orientation camp.
The statement added: “The killing of Senator Gyang Dantong of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and a state lawmaker is a clear evidence that? peace still eludes the state and no argument or tacit extenuation is acceptable in retaining corps members there.”
The group pointed out that the continued insensitivity of the NYSC’s leadership depicts a scheme that has lost its essence and value, thus becoming a malleable tool in the hands of selfish political elite at the helm of affairs in the northern region who have refused to employ enough teachers, thus using corps members as an alternative.