However, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) One Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Major-General Garba Wahab, said the military and other security agencies needed support and not condemnation in their fight against insurgency in the country.
This came as President Goodluck Jonathan decorated the newly appointed service chiefs, warning them that they would not know sleep unless the current insurgency in parts of the country was brought to an end.
Buhari, who spoke on the Hausa programme of the Voice of America (VOA), monitored in Kaduna, on Wednesday, said soldiers should return to the basics of military training by maintaining standards.
“Now there are accusations that they collect bribes at checkpoints, that they rape women during operations as was the case in Borno. That was not known before.
“Now if you kill one of their own, they round up and wipe out the community like what happened at Baga,” he said.
He recalled that during the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, the late president sent an aircraft to convey leaders of Niger Delta militants to Abuja, in a bid to ensure peace reigned in the region.
“Everybody knows that the Boko Haram leader was arrested and killed. We all know that in times of crisis, the police should do their work and it is only when such crisis escalates that the military comes in. They should not round up the crisis community and kill everybody,” he said.
However, Major-General Wahab, at a stakeholders’ meeting on security, appealed to prominent individuals in the society to support the military in its quest to fight insurgency and not to be criticising the force.
He said everywhere in the world where security agencies were discredited, the country always suffered, while he urged that security agencies be left out of politics.
He said security was not strictly an army affair, as other security agencies were equally important, while he sought for support from the public to help in fighting terrorism.
According to him, the military and other security agencies were not magicians and, therefore, relied on useful information from members of the public in order to fight insurgency.
He said their doors were open and that of his commanders, who were always ready to receive information and react accordingly.
He decried the influx of Nigeriens and Malians into the North-West region of the country, saying soldiers were doing their best to curb the menace by arresting many of such illegal migrants.
Jonathan, shortly after decorating the service chiefs on Wednesday, before the commencement of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in State House, Abuja, intimated them of the tough challenges ahead of them, while recalling a coinage by the late Dr Tai Solarin: “May your road be rough.”
However, the president was confident that the new military helmsmen were properly selected and were capable of carrying out their tasks to the expectation of Nigerians.
The new service chiefs decorated with their new ranks are the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh; Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Kenneth Tobiah Jacob Minimah; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman O. Jibrin and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu.
“Whenever I am decorating military officers, I commend their wives, because it is not easy to be barrack-based and to rise to this height.
“But the service chiefs, I don’t know whether I will congratulate you or I will sympathise with you, because of the circumstances of the moment.
“That reminds me, when I was in secondary school, I read one article written by the late Dr Solarin and there is one clause he said ‘I wish you what I wish myself every year. May you have rough time this year.’
“So, I think I will wish you what I wish myself every year and may we have rough time this period. Because none of us will sleep till the Nigerians in Borno State can sleep.
“That is why I say today is not a moment for major statements. We will be having very frank talks from time to time, but definitely Nigerians will tell you what they expect from us.
“We must not fail this country and I believe this team will work together to be assisted by other intelligence services, because the war against terror must be won in this country.
“I congratulate you all and your wives. I have worked with some of you in one way or the other and I am convinced that we selected the right team to salvage this country at this time. You must not disappoint Nigerians,” he declared.
Responding, Air Chief Marshal Badeh expressed appreciation to the president for finding them worthy of the appointments and promoting them to the next ranks, saying their elevation was a call to duty.
Noting that the armed forces had continued to subordinate themselves to the civilian institutions since the advent of the present democratic dispensation, he pledged the unalloyed loyalty of the military to the constitution, the president and all democratic institutions.
Source: Tribune
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