Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd)
The
Elders Council of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State has said
that President Goodluck Jonathan’s inability to end insurgency in the
country makes the APC presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
(retd.) a more credible candidate.
In a statement issued in Osogbo on
Sunday by its chairman, Mr. Sola Akinwumi, the group described President
Jonathan’s security management strategies as dangerous and
debilitating.
The APC elders expressed concerns on how
the President had been encouraging ethnic militias rather than
condemning their violent acts.
The group of elders also frowned on the
reported multi-billion naira contract which President Jonathan was said
to have awarded to militant groups for the protection of oil pipelines.
The statement read, “The resort to arms
and criminality earns governmental expenditure, attention and patronage
quicker than the normal hard road to success.
“Rather than encourage militants to
guide pipelines, the elders reasoned that they had expected that the
money should have been given to the nation’s armed forces to increase
their capacities to tackle and solve the insecurity challenge
confronting the country.
“As senior citizens who witnessed the
evolution, progress and achievements of the Nigerian Armed Forces over
the years particularly through the 30-month civil conflict and our
engagements in the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Darfur, the daunting
challenges facing our military in the Jonathan years have made not a few
patriots to shudder with tremor over the neglect of our security
services in the last six years.”
The elders said that the money given to militants for pipeline protection should have been invested in the military.
According to them, the threat to
national security caused by militancy and lawlessness had already taken a
great toll on Nigeria.
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