The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Coalition of United Political Parties (PDP) has lashed out at the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, for blaming “inadequate commitment of troops on the front line of the insurgency war” for the resurgence of Boko Haram attacks.
Buratai had on Tuesday said some soldiers involved in the counter-insurgency war are losing their commitment, thus causing the military setbacks in the war against Boko Haram.
He had said, “It is unfortunate, but the truth is that almost every setback the Nigerian Army has had in our operations in recent times can be traced to insufficient willingness to perform assigned tasks or simply insufficient commitment to a common national and military course by those at the frontlines.”
But speaking to newsmen on Wednesday, the PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Diran Odeyemi, said it was worrisome that after budgeting huge sum of money to tackle Boko Haram and kidnapping, insecurity was still high in the country.
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He said, “The leadership of these security outfits need to be questioned…If the head of Daura community could be kidnapped, who else is safe in this country? We are not safe. The United Kingdom just gave a directive to its nationals that Nigeria is not safe for them to visit. This is very unfortunate. We call on Buhari to declare a state of emergency in security and act fast.
“The service chiefs should be sacked with immediate effect. They deserve to be sacked. He should sack all of them.”
On his part, the spokesman of CUPP, Mr Imo Ugochinyere, called for the sack of the security chiefs, adding that Buhari should tell Nigerians the truth about his alleged inability to address the security challenges of the country.
He said, “You can see the Chief of Army Staff telling us that the morale of some of the troops is low… First of all, the President should sack those incompetent people who are heading the security agencies.
“These people have been heading these agencies for the last three or four years. The first responsibility of any government is the security and welfare of the citizens. Let him sack them first and then declare a state of emergency. Everything is not politics. Tell the nation the truth that this war, you are not winning,” he added.