Insurgency: Delegates Indict FG, Military-
There were damning revelations yesterday at the ongoing National
Conference where delegates took turns to open up on what they know about
the insurgency bedeviling the nation. The delegates spoke in a closed-door session while discussing the report of the Standing Committee on National Security.
Prior to the revelations and midway into the presentation of the report
by the committee’s deputy chairman, Albert Horsfall, the conference
chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, had ordered the journalists covering the
proceedings to vacate the gallery, a situation which embarrassed the
reporters with the way the order was executed by overzealous security
men particularly men of the State Security Service (SSS).
However, a statement by the conference assistant secretary, media and
communications, James Akpandem, sent to media houses last night said
delegates poured out their minds on the situation vis a vis its handling
by the federal governmnet and the methods of the military, practically
indicting both for the country’s inability to effectively counter the
raging insurgency.
“As Conference resumed in the afternoon to
consider the recommendations contained in the report and some proposed
amendments, information about plans by Boko Haram to burn down 50
communities in Borno State was raised and discussed by the delegates.
“At this point, Chairman of the Conference and former Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, GCON, mandated his Deputy and former
Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, to clear the
gallery and proceed with the closed-door session where delegates
discussed freely on Boko Haram.
“The session started with a
retired general who led the Conference through the strategies involved
in the war against Boko Haram. He traced the history of the insurgency
and dazed delegates with information on what should have been done at
the beginning that was not done,” the statement began.
The
unnamed retired army general was quoted as saying that poor intelligence
gathering, low morale among the troops, poor remuneration, lack of
kitting and provision of ammunitions were responsible for the failure in
the war against Boko Haram insurgents.
“Another speaker, a
politician, said Boko Haram is thriving because they have been allowed
(by government) to outsmart security agents in the area of funding and
morale-boosting.
“It was his view that people entrusted with
the management of funds and proper application of other forms of
resources meant to combat insecurity in the country have diverted such
resources to personal use; a development which has resulted in the
current state of affairs,” the statement said.
Another
delegate, a former ambassador, said the seeming failure of the war
against Boko Haram was traceable to the inability to implement
recommendations contained in various reports submitted to the federal
government by different formal and informal groups in the past.
The delegate was said to have disclosed that Boko Haram has grown to a
level where “its funding is offshore; its weapons accumulation is
offshore, its training is offshore and its strategy is offshore.”
#Leadership.
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