The APC UK and All-Diaspora Chapters of the All Progressives Congress have hailed President Muhammadu Buhari and the Service Chiefs for exhibiting “extraordinary patriotism and commitment” in the war against terrorism.
Owing to their sacrifices to end the insurgency, the APC groups in the diaspora have vowed to mobilise international support and resources to complement the Federal Government’s tremendous effort in the final clearance operation.
After a thorough review of the happenings in the North-East, the APC groups affirmed that significant progress has been made by the troops since the relocation of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General TY Buratai to the theatre of operations.
In a statement by Dr. Philip Idaewor, Chairman APC UK Chapter and Chairman, Committee of Diaspora chairmen, the groups recounted how several high profile Boko Haram/ISWAP commanders were killed and many others injured, fleeing to neighbouring countries.
” We note that the Nigerian Military made significant gains against Boko Haram terrorists following the relocation of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General TY Buratai to the war front, which resulted in the war being taken to the camp of the terrorists. This onslaught led to terrorist camps being destroyed and several high-ranking commanders of the abhorrent group being killed while other terrorists fled into neighbouring countries as they always do,” Dr Idaewor said.
“We equally note that Boko Haram resorted to abducting aid workers and murdering them. Our reading of the situation is that this is a desperate ploy to court attention after they have suffered serial losses to the Nigerian Military. Other forms of desperate attacks calculated at inflicting terror and shoring up the morale of terrorists appear to have been ordered by commanders of the terrorists.”
While admitting that the terrorists have been beaten to its lowest point in history, the Nigerians in diaspora added that it is crucial to capitalize and completely wipe out the remnants from the continent.
However, with Nigeria almost in the battle alone with minimal support from neighbours and the international community, the APC groups reckoned that this may be a tough ask.
” We further noted that even though the terrorist group has been beaten to its lowest in years, there is an urgency to completely wipe out this scourge from Africa so that the people can live in peace and return to normal community activities. If the remnants of the group are not eradicated with a scorch-earth totality then there is the risk that they will regroup, rearm and return to be a threat to everyone,” he said.
“We observe that Nigeria is practically going the war on terrorism alone with minimal or no military input from countries that ordinarily present themselves as friends of Nigeria. Assistance from such countries at the moment is mostly in the form of humanitarian work, which some have even used as a cover to funnel support to the terrorists and further undermine Nigeria.”
The APC UK Chapter and Diaspora Chapters, therefore, vowed to rally for support from the international community and fellow Nigerian professionals in the diaspora to put a final end to the challenges of insecurity at home.
The groups further called on “Nigerian professionals in their various fields to help in changing the narrative and bringing about the needed peace and security in the country”.
“The United Kingdom (UK) and Diaspora Chapters of APC are convinced that time is running out for the international community to pitch in and collaborate with Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram/ISIS. The reality is that the Nigerian Government and the Militarily require international collaboration and support to Defeat Boko Haram,” Dr Idaewor acknowledged.
“Our recognition of this imperative has made us embark on mobilizing international support for the war against insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria. Winning the war against terrorism in all its colour in Nigeria and Africa should now detain international attention in order to attain global peace and minimise dangerous transcontinental migration. The COAS and other Security Chiefs must be supported by all Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora to do more. ”
Meanwhile, a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd.), has said the sacking of the heads of the armed forces in the country is at the discretion of the President, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
The former army chief said service chiefs could resign if they felt they did not have anything new to contribute again or wait to be sacked by the President.
Akinrinade made this known in a recent interview.
There have been calls for the sacking of service chiefs due to the worsening insecurity in the country and the Senate last week called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack them.
Asked if he supported the calls that service chiefs should go, Akinrinade said the President had the power to either sack the service chiefs or retain them.
He said, “A service chief can resign but sacking them is at the discretion of the President. When you get to that position, you are serving at the discretion of the President.
“If he wants you to go, then you leave. If you have served and you feel that you don’t have anything again to contribute, then you can approach the President and tell him. Or you can write to your minister who will deliver such letter to the President to tell him that you will like to leave.
“But if you are not interested in leaving, you wait for the President to tell you to leave. There is no tenure and that is the problem. It is not stated anywhere that you have to serve as the Chief of Army Staff for four years or as Chief of Defence Staff for two years. There is no tenure.”
Akinrinade, a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, said the civil service rule stipulating retirement for anybody who has served for 35 years which he said had been extended to the armed forces was not helpful to the nation at times.
He stated that some persons might join the armed forces early and would still be productive after spending 35 years in service.
He said, “The civil service rule which has been extended to the forces now; that if you have served for 35 years, you should leave. I don’t particularly think this is a good idea because somebody can serve for 35 years and he or she is only 56 years old, has such person reached the climax of their productive life?
“If the person is doing well are we going to just kick out such person because they have served for 35 years?
These are matters which
we have installed in our system but which are not necessarily productive at some points. “
Asked to proffer solutions to the insecurity in the country, Akinrinade said it would be difficult to offer good advice without having complete information of what was going on in the military and in the minds of the enemies of the country.
All of you APC in U.K are myopic and insensitive. How can you people be saying this at this time? Do you know how many Nigerians are being killed on a daily basis, by these Fulani herdsmen,bokoharam and those terrorist they call bandits? Those useless service cbief’s need to be changed, it is long over due.Which country in this world will arrest terrorist,instead of persecuting them,what you will hear is that the arrested bokoharam terrorists has been retrained they have repented and rebranded. They will unleash them to the public.And now some of them has gone back to sambisa forest. One has even killed his father, because the father reported him to the police,before he was arrested. According to one of the senators from that state, Senator Ali Ndume.Most of you should come back to Nigeria, if you are from the North, you travel there with your family for holidays, so that you witness what is going on and get first hand informations So that you will understand what is going on in Nigeria. This is not a matter of APC or PDP.We are talking about human lives.So you people should withdrew that statement, and render apologizes to Nigerians and join the #removeourservicechiefs.