The All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned in very strong terms the spate of mass killings by members of the Boko Haram sect, calling the insurgents cowards for attacking soft targets, especially women and children. The party also called on the Nigerian military to improve its strategy of battling the outlawed sect.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, APC stressed that nothing could justify the slaying of innocent civilians, adding that the insurgents were ill-advised to have thought that they can win the ill-advised war they have waged against Nigeria.
The party commiserated with the government and people of the affected states, especially Borno, who have been at the receiving end of the attacks that have left scores dead and destroyed numerous houses and other property.
The group has in the last one week, attacked two towns in Borno leaving over 140 people dead and abducted 20 girls from their school. The insurgents’ latest onslaught took place yesterday in Bama Town with the casualty figure yet to be ascertained.
The APC said while the Nigerian military has undoubtedly recorded some successes in its battle against the terrorists, the time was ripe for it to rev up its strategy in order to prevent the kind of mass killings which the insurgents have been perpetrating in recent times.
Particularly, the party urged the military to increase its intelligence gathering capability with a view to nipping in the bud the attacks on civilians and military targets, including barracks.
The APC also urged the presidency to stop being “unnecessarily defensive” and focus on providing the country’s security forces with all that it requires to defeat the insurgents. It described the presidency’s scathing criticism of Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno as unfair and insensitive.
The party described as counter-productive the “not-so-subtle attacks” launched against Mr. Shettima by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, for stating that soldiers need to be adequately equipped and properly motivated to subdue Boko Haram, which the party says is obvious.
“We know that several of the presidency’s attack dogs are terribly under-employed and that they need to face the klieg lights time and again to justify the huge taxpayers fund being expended on them, but the truth is that they ridicule no one but themselves and the presidency when they have to bark at the victims of the deadly Boko Haram attacks from the comfort of their padded offices in Abuja.
“Gov. Shettima is in the eye of the storm, so to say, and has wisely gone to Abuja to brief the presidency on the situation in his state after the last round of attacks. For the same presidency to unleash perhaps its most vicious and unrelenting attack dog against the same governor, amounts to bad judgment, which also undermines the fight against the insurgents”.
APC commended Governor Shettima for his unflinching support to the military in its ongoing offensive against Boko Haram, as well as the efforts of his administration to alleviate the sufferings of the victims of the terrorist attacks, urging him not to give up until total victory has been achieved.
The party advised the Federal Government to reduce the bottleneck associated with processing requests of logistics by troops in the battlefield and provide the Nigerian military personnel with everything they need to succeed.
“The delay in acceding to requests from troops on the field concerning logistical challenges, due to unnecessary bottlenecks at the level of the political authorities, is exploited by Boko Haram to carry out daring and deadly attacks not just on civilians but on the military itself.
“It is absolutely important to provide the brave and patriotic personnel we have sent to the battle against the insurgents with everything they need to prosecute a successful battle. We must also ensure that we are not just fighting to win the battle, but to also win the peace”, APC said.
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