Abubakar, also a former presidential candidate, made this call in a statement on the “deteriorating security situation” on Tuesday.
“The security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating rapidly and ordinary Nigerians are living in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Nowhere seems to be safe. Farms, markets, schools, homes, mosques, churches, and urban areas are all affected.
“Terrorists are spreading their areas of operation beyond the North-east, into far-flung areas as far as Niger State in the North-central. That is merely hours from our Federal Capital.
“Now is the time for decisive leadership and I call on the Federal Government to consider recalling all ex-servicemen and women, who are willing to return to service, and take the fight to the insurgents until they are rolled back and defeated.”
He said, as a former vice-chairman of the National Security Council, ”he is aware that Nigeria has a sizable population of military veterans, who were trained locally and internationally are still very much alive”.
He said it serves no purpose to allow “these valuable national assets to lie fallow when there is an existential threat to our nation”.
“But they need arms and ammunition. It is incumbent on the federal government to develop a more efficient means of sourcing weapons and delivering them to the troops at the battlefront,” Mr Abubakar added.