Buhari Condemns Military Handling Of Boko Haram Crisis

Former head of state and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, has expressed sadness over the activities of Nigerian soldiers in fighting insurgency, saying many people have alleged that they collect bribe at checkpoints and rape women during operations.

However, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) One Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Major-General Garba Wahab, said the military and other security agencies needed support and not condemnation in their fight against insurgency in the country.

Buhari, who spoke on the Hausa programme of the Voice of America (VOA), monitored in Kaduna, on Wednesday, said soldiers should return to the basics of military training by maintaining standards.

“Now there are accusations that they collect bribes at checkpoints, that they rape women during operations as was the case in Borno. That was not known before.

“Now if you kill one of their own, they round up and wipe out the community like what happened at Baga,” he said.

He recalled that during the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, the late president sent an aircraft to convey leaders of Niger Delta militants to Abuja, in a bid to ensure peace reigned in the region.

“Everybody knows that the Boko Haram leader was arrested and killed. We all know that in times of crisis, the police should do their work and it is only when such crisis escalates that the military comes in. They should not round up the crisis community and kill everybody,” he said.

However, Major-General Wahab, at a stakeholders’ meeting on security, appealed to prominent individuals in the society to support the military in its quest to fight insurgency and not to be criticising the force.

He said everywhere in the world where security agencies were discredited, the country always suffered, while he urged that security agencies be left out of politics.

He said security was not strictly an army affair, as other security agencies were equally important, while he sought for support from the public to help in fighting terrorism.

According to him, the military and other security agencies were not magicians and, therefore, relied on useful information from members of the public in order to fight insurgency.

He said their doors were open and that of his commanders, who were always ready to receive information and react accordingly.

He decried the influx of Nigeriens and Malians into the North-West region of the country, saying soldiers were doing their best to curb the menace by arresting many of such illegal migrants.

Jonathan, shortly after decorating the service chiefs on Wednesday, before the commencement of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in State House, Abuja, intimated them of the tough challenges ahead of them, while recalling a coinage by the late Dr Tai Solarin: “May your road be rough.”