By David Owei<\/p>\n
The South-South Youths Initiative (SSYI) has condemned calls for the removal of the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Prof. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, following the death of 37 suspected miners in Niger State.<\/p>\n
The youths in a statement signed by their their National President, Imeabe Saviour Oscar, described the calls as \u201cmisplaced, unjust and politically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oscar said it was wrong to hold the NSCDC boss responsible for an alleged operational breach committed by a state commandant.<\/p>\n
According to the group, the NSCDC operates a defined administrative structure in which state commandants report directly to zonal commanders, who are assistant commandant-generals.<\/p>\n
He said the various state commands also have legal, intelligence, administrative and operational departments responsible for their day-to-day activities.<\/p>\n
Oscar further argued that Audi had previously issued circulars warning personnel against detaining suspects beyond the constitutionally prescribed period.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt is on record that the Commandant General has issued several circulars warning all formations against detaining suspects beyond 24 hours, in line with the Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically, circulars to this effect were issued in 2022 and 2024 and widely circulated to all State Commands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oscar described as \u201cwrong, unjust and mischievous\u201d attempts to demand Audi\u2019s removal over an alleged offence committed by a state commandant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is therefore wrong, unjust and mischievous for individuals or groups to call for the head of the Commandant General for an offence allegedly committed by a State Commandant”, he said.<\/p>\n
The South-South youths also linked the calls for Audi\u2019s removal to the corps\u2019 operations against illegal mining, alleging that \u201csome powerful illegal miners and their collaborators\u201d were behind the campaign.<\/p>\n
The group said that Audi had previously contributed to efforts that helped increase crude oil production in the Niger Delta from about 800,000 barrels per day to approximately 1.6 million barrels per day.<\/p>\n
Oscar also said that the Federal Government generated about N40bn from mining activities in 2025, attributing the development largely to operational reforms and measures introduced under Audi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commandant-General should be allowed to repeat what he did in the Niger Delta in the mining sector,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It called on the Presidency, the Minister of Interior and Nigerians to disregard what it described as \u201csponsored calls\u201d for Audi\u2019s removal and instead support him in his efforts to tackle illegal mining.<\/p>\n
\u201cProf. Audi should be supported and encouraged to do more for the nation,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Owei The South-South Youths Initiative (SSYI) has condemned calls for the removal of the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Prof. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, following the death of 37 suspected miners in Niger State. The youths in a statement signed by their their National President, Imeabe Saviour Oscar, described […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17889,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17888\/revisions\/17889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}