The presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria,
ACPN, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has expressed concern over reports that
70 Nigerian soldiers were killed in Baga by Boko Haram terrorists.
Ezekwesili bemoaned the reported killings of military personnel while calling for an independent verification.
In
a statement made available to DAILY POST on Monday, the former
Education minister pointed out that ‘Nigeria desperately needs effective
leadership’.
The news reports also alleged that over 2,000 of the country’s soldiers are missing.
Ezekwesili’s
statement reads, “Although the military and the Presidency have denied
the reports, but the serial credibility challenges of the Buhari
administration and the security team he leads as Commander-in-Chief of
the Armed Forces have created public distrust of any rebuttal by
government. And that is gravely worrisome.
“The only way to
ensure accuracy of the casualty that Nigeria is suffering as a result of
counter-terrorism at this stage is to inaugurate a citizens-led
independent investigation panel.
“Such an initiative would go a
long way to eliminate the opaqueness of the counter-terrorism war and
restore public confidence, as the case may be, in how the Buhari
administration is prosecuting it.”
The ACPN presidential
candidate also frowned at the consistent killings in Zamfara State
recently, saying that the once most peaceful state of the North West
region has been turned into a theatre of terrorism.
According to her, the security situation in the country shows a lack of effective leadership by President Muhammadu Buhari.
She
added, “This is demonstrated in the very troubling inertia to
decisively confront and end the frequent killings of our citizens;
especially our soldiers on the frontline of battle.
“The killings
have tragically earned Nigeria the designation of the 16th most
dangerous country in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.
Nigeria is also the 15th most fragile country in the 2018 Fragile States
Index by the United States Fund for Peace.”
Ezekwesili stated
that the constitutional mandate of the government to ensure the security
of lives and property of all Nigerians had been poorly handled,
especially within the last decade.
She continued, “Tackling this
will require commencing a security discourse and planning away from a
narrow focus on military responses, to a more collective and
participative conversation of the structure of the Nigerian state and
our security architecture. Our ACPN administration would without fail
prioritise this.
“We
would be responsive to current and immediate challenges by revising the
current containment measures to ensure efficiency, include effective
public communication on security issues without compromising genuine
national security concerns.
“We would also bring citizens in as
participants in their own security, through the establishment of local
peace committees as part of the national security architecture.
“Within
days of being inaugurated into office, our ACPN administration would
move swiftly to launch a coordinated response to all acts of violence in
regions that are vulnerable to attacks from armed groups and
concurrently commence a strong security sector reform for
professionalism, accountability and results-focus.”
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