The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the National Assembly to
\nurgently initiate a probe into how the budgetary allocations to the
\nmilitary have been spent in recent years, with a view to establishing
\nwhether or not the military is adequately empowered to effectively tackle
\nthe worsening scourge of terrorism in the country.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its Interim National
\nPublicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the National
\nAssembly, in the exercise of its constitutional duties, must invite
\nService Chiefs and other relevant government officials to shed light on
\nthis issue.<\/p>\n
It said the probe is important because of the insinuation in certain
\nquarters about the ability and capability of the nation\u2019s military in the
\nongoing battle against Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe Nigerian military comes highly recommended globally because it has
\nexcelled, since 1960, in peacekeeping operations around the world. In
\nfact, Nigeria is among the top troop contributors to global peacekeeping
\noperations, by virtue of the acknowledged sterling performance of its
\nmilitary in the various missions<\/p>\n
\u201dOur military has also performed credibly in internal security operations
\nin the past. If suddenly the ability and capability of this same military
\nare being called to question in the ongoing battle against the Boko Haram
\nterrorists, then something must have gone wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201dThis is why we are calling on the National Assembly to find out whether
\nor not the soldiers we are sending out to battle the insurgents are
\nadequately equipped to carry out their duties; to find out whether their
\nmorale is at the right level; to find out whether the huge funds being
\nallocated for security are being used for the right purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt is important to find out whether the huge funds which are being
\ndeposited into the bank accounts of politicians, or being used to lure
\nthem into the ruling party, are being taken from the allocation to
\nsecurity, in which case the purpose for which the funds were allocated in
\nthe first instance would have been defeated,\u201d APC said.<\/p>\n
The party said the National Assembly should not be deterred by those who
\nsay military or security expenditure cannot be probed or those who will
\nread \u201dpolitical meaning\u201d to this call.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe tendency for those who want to silence all the voices of reason to
\nattribute political undertones to any statement, especially from the
\nopposition, on the burning issue of terrorism will not and cannot silence
\nus. We say, unequivocally, that our call is in the best interest of the
\nnation, which is under siege from terrorists, and that it is also in line
\nwith global best practices<\/p>\n
\u201dDuring the Iraq war, the issue of whether or not the American troops
\nbattling insurgents across Iraq were adequately provided with the
\nappropriate body armour and whether their armoured personnel carriers
\ncould withstand the enemy firepower were publicly debated without anyone
\naccusing that country\u2019s opposition of playing politics with security,\u201d it
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
APC said its call becomes even more relevant and urgent after a serving
\nSenator said on the floor of the legislative chamber that during a recent
\ntrip to the Sambisa Forest, regarded as the stronghold of the terrorists,
\nthe military armoured personnel carrier that was escorting his team broke
\ndown.<\/p>\n
It said there have also been stories concerning the low morale of the
\ntroops on the battle front, cases of soldiers being given obsolete guns as
\nwell as cases of desertion.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe do not know whether or not these stories are true. But what we do know
\nis that something seems not to be right with the way we are waging the war
\nagainst these terrorists, and the only way to know for sure is for the
\nNational Assembly to ask the pertinent questions,\u201d APC said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the APC has commended the US, Britain, China and all the other
\ncountries that have offered to assist Nigeria to rescue the over 200
\nabducted girls, saying such offer of assistance was long overdue, in view
\nof the global nature of terrorism.<\/p>\n
The party expressed the hope that the assistance would extend beyond the
\nrescue of the girls to also include all other strategic initiatives that
\nwill help Nigeria to crush the Boko Haram terrorist group.<\/p>\n
It said, however, that the Jonathan Administration must realize that it is
\nultimately responsible for the safety and security of all Nigerians, hence
\ncannot afford to shirk its responsibility in that regard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the National Assembly to urgently initiate a probe into how the budgetary allocations to the military have been spent in recent years,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n