DEPLOY SOLDIERS TO FIGHT INSURGENCY, NOT FOR ELECTION, BUHARI TELLS JONATHAN

PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, has again attacked President Goodluck Jonathan, telling him to use the soldiers and other security operatives in his care to fight insurgency, instead of keeping them for the forthcoming general elections.
He also castigated the president for delaying the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the polluted Ogoniland, vowing to implement same if he emerged victorious in the February 14 presidential election.
He made this known while speaking during a meeting with stakeholders of Ogoni ethnic nationality, led by the president of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers (SCOTR), King Godwin Giniwa, held at Saakpenwa, headquarters of Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State.
“I have made this comment before and the Federal Government refused to react to it. The number of soldiers, policemen and officers of the State Security Services they deploy during elections, if they had deployed them to Borno and Yobe states to fight Boko Haram, by now, Boko Haram would have been history.
“Boko Haram is not a religious group; Boko Haram is not an ethnic group; Boko Haram is a terrorist group. They attack people in schools, they attack people in churches, they attack people in mosques, they attack people in market places and they shout ‘Allahu Akbah! No religion rejoices over the blood of innocent people,” he said.
Speaking in company of the APC national chairman, Chuef John Odigie-Oyegun; Governor Rotimi Amaechi; former Ekiti State governors, Segun Oni and Niyi Adebayo, among others, Buhari promised to fight terrorism, corruption and other forms of crimes if elected president in February.
Speaking on behalf of the Ogoni people, the senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, said several injustices had been committed against the Ogonis in the past 50 years.
“Oil companies that operated in Ogoni have not fared better in their corporate relations with host communities. What is more, the Bodo-Bonny road, the only seeming ongoing Federal Government project in Ogoniland is uncompleted years after the Federal Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded the contracts.
“Our position as a people concerning resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni is that there should be adequate consultation with, and participation of the Ogonis in the process leading to their eventual operation.
“As a deprived people, we have consistently placed in the domains of all governments the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) that seeks for equal representation of Ogonis in the affairs of the nation.
“These demands include appointment of Ogoni sons and daughters in government, provision of lives sustainable infrastructures, such as good roads, water and development institution,” he said.
In his remarks, Governor Amaechi challenged President Jonathan on his refusal to implement the UNEP report on Ogoni environment, noting that the delay was due to his alleged hatred for the Ogoni people.
“Let President Goodluck Jonathan tell us why he has not allowed the implementation of the UNEP report. He has no reason. The money to be spent in the implementation of the report is not his; the money belongs to Shell,” he said.
Source: Tribune