In a statement made available to news men in Abuja yesterday by its National Spokesman, Mr Ikenga Imo Ugochinyerean, the CUPP described the incident as a national disgrace and called for the immediate sack of the nation’s Service Chiefs as well as the over haul of the nation’s Security apparatus for greater efficiency.
The Coalition also expressed shocked “by the dishonourable silence of the Federal Government on the attacks which only became prominent on the social media after the terrorist group released very gory videos of some of these attacks”.
ALSO READ: National minimum wage and peculiarities of the localities (1)
According to it, “for President Buhari to only summon Service chiefs for a briefing five days after such a calamity clearly shows the slow response time of this administration to national emergencies and lack of capacity to meet up with the fast pace of developments which affect the lives of citizens”
“We hereby call on President Buhari to salvage the last vestiges of honour left for his regime by immediately sacking the service chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, Chairman of EFCC and Comptroller General of Customs who have at one time or the other found playing politics with their offices instead of doing their jobs with every sense of neutrality
“This action will both raise the morale of our troops in the fronts that there are consequences for Commanders who fail them and also give Nigerians and the international community the confidence that heads of security agencies will be neutral during the fast approaching general elections where the President and his Party are headed for defeat”.
The statement reads,” The CUPP has received with shock days ago the news of the attack of a Nigerian Military base in Meitele Borno State by BokoHaram/ISWAP fighters and the killing of over a hundred of our gallant soldiers
” It is most heart rending to realize that this attack happened same week some of our Nation’s military service chiefs were frolicking at the APC Political party campaign function in the Presidential Villa
“Obviously some of these service chiefs were out of communication and beyond the reach of their subordinates and certainly, could not give instructions and coordinate back up and air support for the troops who were left to die for our fatherland, albeit unavoidably. We pray, may their gentle and gallant souls rest in perfect peace
“The increase in attacks by elements of the Boko Haram and ISWAP on military facilities in the North East is a national embarrassment
“From the attack in Jili in July where we reportedly lost over 200 soldiers to Zari in August, Mainok and Kekeno and now Meitele, this is one attack too many. This is a national disgrace especially with the loud mouthing of an outgoing regime which had claimed the group was degraded and technically defeated after alleged misappropriation of billions of dollars
“The heads of security agencies in Nigeria are now more interested in obtaining intelligence on the meetings of opposition leaders than on the activities of the Boko Haram.
“The Police and State Security Services are now more interested in hounding and intimidating opposition leaders and activists than they are in identifying and neutralizing the activities of the terrorist group. Boko Haram is now allegedly expanding their territory even beyond the territories they held in 2014 before they were pushed back just before the 2015 general elections.
“The ugly report that the fallen Meitele military camp is the last camp in the entire Northern District of Borno State raises a red flag and calls for concerted action to reverse it
“It is appalling and sacrilegious that months after President Buhari received $1 billion to fight boko haram that videos supposedly released by soldiers in the front suggest that the soldiers are underarmed and equipped with obsolete weapons
“How a rag tag motley group could be better equipped than the Nigerian army calls for immediate investigation and we urge the Senate to immediately commence this investigation
“We don’t want to believe yet, the allegations that security chiefs with the knowledge of their political masters have now turned this war into a source for raising campaign funds. The political ambition of the President and indeed any other person is not worth the lives of Nigerians. This ugly trend must stop and it must stop now”.
The Coalition then urgeed the nation’s soldiers to remain steadfast as it was only a matter of time before the February 2019 Presidential elections when Nigerians would vote the present government out of power and usher in a government that would provide them with the required and desired equipment, training, support and funding to successfully prosecute the war on terror and push the Boko Haram more than they did before the 2015 General elections.
and then