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APC Calls Nigerian Soldiers Foray Into Cameroon A National Embarrassment

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as an unprecedented national embarrassment the  seizure of a Nigerian town by the terrorist group, Boko Haram and … Continue reading APC Calls Nigerian Soldiers Foray Into Cameroon A National Embarrassment


APC

Osun Election_Lai Mohammed_#Osundecides_APCThe All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as an unprecedented national embarrassment the  seizure of a Nigerian town by the terrorist group, Boko Haram and the reported fleeing of 480 Nigerian soldiers to Cameroon during an attack on a military base in Gamboru-Ngala on Monday.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Lai Mohammed, the party called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently address Nigerians on the worsening security situation in the north that has allowed Boko Haram to proclaim its rule over a part of the nation’s territory.

The statement said: “In the face of the biggest threat to Nigeria’s unity and territorial integrity since the country’s civil war, President Jonathan must also put partisanship aside and rally the nation against Boko Haram, which by all indications seems to be getting bolder and stronger, to such an extent that the group is now hoisting its flag over parts of the nation’s territory”.

APC also restated its call for an urgent national stakeholders’ conference on security that will cut across party lines to help fashion a solution to what has now become a clear and present danger to the survival of Nigeria, while pledging its unalloyed support for any sincere effort by the Federal Government to end the insurgency as quickly as possible.

As an immediate first step, the party calls on President Jonathan to immediately halt the illegal electioneering campaign by his Ministers, other appointees and supporters, saying Nigeria must survive as a nation before any party or individual can rule over it.

”These campaigns, ostensibly by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), but in truth being bankrolled by the Federal Government, offends national sensibilities at a time our citizens are being slaughtered daily and our troops are struggling against the terrorists who are bent on balkanizing our nation. Needless to remind Nigerians that over 200 school girls remain missing more than 130 days after they were abducted,” the party said, stressing the need for the President to “put politics aside for now and lead the nation to defeat Boko Haram”.

It also charged the military high command and its civilian leadership to quit politicking and fashion out ways for the military to live up to its constitutional responsibility of maintaining Nigeria’s territorial integrity.

 ‘Tactical Manoeuvre’

APC said: “It is a shame that while the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has been prancing around in Ekiti and Osun State marshaling troops to harass the opposition during the elections in those states, Nigeria has been losing territory after territory to Boko Haram”.

The party further alleged that “some defence chiefs have become the chief campaign managers to President Jonathan,” insisting that the “action is a clear violation of the military’s professional ethics, which has embroiled the military unnecessarily in politics, at a time they should be rallying the troops against Boko Haram.

”Nigeria has never had it so bad. The country’s military that was being hailed worldwide for its sterling performance at global peacekeeping missions has now reached a level where its troops are deserting, engaging in mutiny or simply unwilling to fight.

”There is no way to spin what happened on Monday, when 480 Nigerian soldiers escaped to Cameroon. The Ministry of Defence called it ‘tactical manoeuvre’, but did not explain how soldiers fighting insurgents along Nigeria’s border with Cameroon will foray 80 kilometres into Cameroon! Also, if the Nigerian troops’ foray into Cameroon was in the spirit of the cooperation between the two countries in the fight against the terrorists, as some spin doctors have said, why were the Nigerian soldiers disarmed and then herded into schools in Maroua, 80kms from the Nigerian border?

”The issue that should agitate the minds of Nigerians now is whether our troops are adequately equipped to battle Boko Haram and, if not, what has happened to the funds allocated for such in the past,” alleging that “between 2010 and 2014, a total of US$14 billion was allocated for defence, security and the police.

”Nigerians must start asking questions rather than just blaming soldiers. Nigerians must ask why the alarm raised by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno concerning the low morale and lack of necessary fighting equipment by the military was dismissed on the altar of partisanship. Nigerians must ask what next, if a rag tag band of marauders are now carving out territories for themselves in our nation. Things cannot and must not continue like this,” APC said.