By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
Pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has expressed consternation and disappointment that in the wake of the recent mass abduction of dozens of girls from a government Girls college in Kebbi State in the North West of Nigeria, that the Senate President Mr. Godswill Akpabio can be so insensitive as to make thoughless and fallacious sarcastic comments which seemed to normalise the unprecedented attacks by terrorists and all genres of armed non-state actors on vulnerable citizens. <\/p>\n
HURIWA also stated that from available statistics and information, the Federal Government is not transparent and accountable in the procurement of hardwares and weapons for the armed forces of Nigeria which was evidenced by the overwhelming attacks in an ambush staged by the terrorists that kidnapped the school children in Kebbi State just as the Rights group said the successful ambush and wounding of scores of soldiers on rescue mission and the destruction of their rickety looking armoured vehicles shows that the government needs to embrace accountability and purchase quality military hardwares and adequately motivate the soldiers to be constantly ahead of the enemies of Nigerians who have continued to attack both Nigerian citizens including vulnerable schoolchildren and even soldiers sent to rescue the kid hostages. <\/p>\n
HURIWA condemned the laissez-faire and lackadaisical approach to the insecurity threatening to destroy Nigeria as displayed in the plenary recently during which time the senate President Godswill Akpabio, urged Nigerians to maintain perspective on the country\u2019s security challenges, arguing that no nation in the world including the United States, is free of crime.<\/p>\n
Akpabio made the remarks while presiding over plenary during a heated debate on the killing of Brigadier-General Uba Musa in Borno State and the abduction of 25 schoolgirls, alongside the killing of a vice principal, in Kebbi State.
\nThe incidents occurred within a 24-hour span.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sympathise deeply with the families affected, but we must remember that Nigeria is a very large country,\u201d the Senate President said.
\n\u201cIt is not even possible to deploy one policeman to each polling unit during elections. Our security agencies are overstretched and find themselves in places they shouldn\u2019t ordinarily be,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He added that crime exists everywhere, and nations including global powers struggle with their own security issues.
\n\u201cThere is no society without crime. Even the almighty America records crime on a daily basis. But we must continue to do our best to minimise it,\u201d Akpabio said.
\nAfter the resolutions were harmonised, the Senate went into a closed-door session for further deliberations on national security matters.<\/p>\n
HURIWA however takes exception to the thoughtless comments by the Senate President because the same Senator Akpabio wouldn’t be this flippant if some of the schoolgirls kidnapped on gunpoint by the Kebbi terrorists were his daughters just as the Rights group used an analogy of an Igbo adage that states that when another corpse from another distant place is being conveyed, onlookers could mistake it for just being so ordinary and not a Solemn incident that deserves thoughtful mourning. <\/p>\n
HURIWA said the statement of the Senate President that crimes happens everywhere including the all powerful USA, is childish and irrational because the United States Congress wouldn’t let the US Government to be so insensitive and weak as to not adequately equipping the US military and train the soldiers to decisively defeat terrorists but the Rights group insisted that the Nigerian situation is incomparable to no other sovereign entity because the National Assembly is too weak, compromisedand corrupt to provide the needed legal oversight to ensure that the President and commander-in-chief of the Armed forced of Nigeria give the military what they require to become battle ready, tested and trusted. <\/p>\n
HURIWA said the evidence of lack of proper equipping of Nigerian soldiers have been witnessed in multiple successful ambushes and attacks by terrorists on the Nigerian Army during which time dozens of soldiers are killed, military hardwares and softwares are stolen by the Islamic terrorists.<\/p>\n
HURIWA cited the most recent incident in Kebbi State in which several soldiers sustained injuries after terrorists launched an ambush on troops heading to rescue kidnapped schoolgirls in Kebbi State.<\/p>\n
The attack occurred just 24 hours after the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, directed troops of Operation Fasan Yamma to go \u201call out\u201d against the bandits responsible for abducting students of Government Girls Secondary School, Maga.
\n\u201cYou must continue day and night fighting. We must find these children,\u201d Shaibu has ordered.<\/p>\n
He further instructed commanders to leverage intelligence for intelligence-based operations, emphasizing: \u201cOnce you receive information on something like this, act professionally and decisively. This is not just about our image; it is about doing our job properly.\u201d
\nTroops were ordered to maintain 24-hour operations until all abducted students are safely rescued and reunited with their families.<\/p>\n
HURIWA said that for the government to be taken seriously and trusted by the citizens and the rest of the global community, it must ensure that what it says is backed up by quality actions because it is a pitiable situation that the Nigeria Army could send out soldiers on rescue mission apparently with inferior hardwares and weapons and without top-rated intelligence which made it easier for the terrorists to successfully ambush the troops and then make it difficult to quickly rescue the victims.<\/p>\n
“How many more successful and daring ambushes should the terrorists stage before the military imbibe superior strategic planning and counter measures to beat the terrorists in their game? Why should the terrorists be allowed to ambush the soldiers as if the nation lacks the intelligence and the drones technology to gain insight on the movements of terrorists before the Army would embark on counter attack to rescue the victims of the dastardly attacks by the mass murderers?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke Pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has expressed consternation and disappointment that in the wake of the recent mass abduction of dozens of girls from a government Girls college in Kebbi State in the North West of Nigeria, that the Senate President Mr. Godswill Akpabio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5435,5436,5434],"class_list":["post-8825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-fallacious","tag-sarcastic","tag-thoughless"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8827,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions\/8827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}