The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as defeatist comments by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai to the effect that troops’ non-commitment to the counterinsurgency operations had been responsible for the inability of the military to defeat the Boko Haram insurgents.
The PDP said the Army Chief’s comments had affirmed its position that President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in his duties as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces.
In a statement Monday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said that the blame must be placed at the doorsteps of the President, who was under oath as the Commander-in-Chief, to ensure the security of lives and property, but had failed even in his own promise to lead from the front.
“Mr. President, as chief security officer of the nation, should not hide under an Army Chief to push blames when he had failed to take appropriate steps to secure the nation and refused to heed wise counsel by well-meaning Nigerians to reorder his parade and rejig the nation’s security architecture for effectiveness.
“Instead, the Buhari Presidency had carried on with endless lip service, empty assurances, unnecessary blame game and obvious lack of tact, while the nation is being ravaged”, the PDP added.
The main opposition party insisted that despite what it described as the “cluelessness” of the Buhari Presidency, the troops have remained gallant, patriotic, making sacrifices and risking their lives in defending the country.
The PDP was of the view that under the prevailing situation, a Commander-In-Chief should have risen up to the occasion, step up actions, resolve the issues and ensure that all efforts were galvanized to provide all the necessary requirements for the troops combating insurgency and other acts of violence against the nation.
The party urged the military and troops in the frontline not to relent at this critical time, noting that Nigerians seriously appreciate the sacrifices they make in the course of securing the nation.
It also called on the National Assembly to save the situation by immediately using its legislative instruments to wade into the situation in the interest of the nation.
