A former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode and a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri have faulted the Chief of Army staff, Tukur Burutai for blaming soldiers for recent Boko Haram attacks.
Speaking at the opening of a five-day leadership workshop for mid-level officers and soldiers in Abuja, the army chief said the insufficient commitment have posed a stumbling block in the fight against insurgency.
“It is unfortunate, but the truth is that almost every setback the Nigerian Army has had in our operations in recent times can be traced to insufficient willingness to perform assigned tasks or simply insufficient commitment to a common national and military course by those on the frontlines,” he said.
“Many of those on whom the responsibility for physical actions against the adversary squarely falls are yet to fully take ownership of our common national or service cause. And this is the reason why I have always ensured that the promotion of army personnel is essentially based on professional considerations only.
“But we all know that professional capacity is not a sufficient condition to succeed in a task; willingness to perform the task is equally necessary. We all know that leadership is core to military professionalism; hence all military professional courses include aspects of military leadership skills acquisition.”
Reacting, Fani Kayode described Burutai’s statement as sad.
He tweeted on Wednesday thus: Boko Haram backed by ISWA forces have attacked four Nigerian military bases in the last one week. Meanwhile, the COAS, Gen. Burutai, has accused officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army on the frontline of failing to stand firm and hold the line in the face of the enemy. SAD!
On Omokri’s part accused Burutai of sitting fat in his air-conditioned office yet has the guts to accuse soldiers of cowardice.
He tweeted: Boko Haram attacked 4 @HQNigerianArmy bases last week and killed many soldiers. In response, the COAS, Buratai, accuses our gallant troops of cowardice. These men are fighting and you are sitting fat in your Abuja AC offices and you have the guts to call them cowards!
