Northern leaders are of the opinion that the federal government should promptly order the arrest of former military chiefs who were involved in financial misconduct.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Friday, directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to probe the alleged misconduct established against some retired and serving officers of the Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Army.

However, some northern leaders have advised the President to go beyond probe, by also trying them for war crimes.

Dr. Junaid Mohammed of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, said the former military chiefs, case in point, Alex Badeh should be arrested.

“I am happy that the EFCC has woken to its responsibilities. I have been demanding this from the moment Buhari was sworn in. These people should be arrested because some of them would run away.

“Badeh can run away because he is a trained pilot and has access to some of the planes, both helicopters and other planes. The sooner the EFCC and the police arrest him and keep him in their custody for as long as possible, the better it is for the entire country.

“And those who have the illusion that somehow democracy means, you come to steal money and nobody questions you have come to relearn democracy. It is so sad that this arrest is coming after the death of thousands of Nigerians whose deaths Badeh and his colleagues are directly responsible for.”

“I sincerely pray for the souls of those who died in the course of the mishandled operations in the North-East and I hope that those who are holding similar positions and those who will hold the positions in future are not going to behave like Sambo Dasukis, Alex Badehs, Ihejirika, Minimah and others, so we can have armed forces that are patriotic and we can rely on them to protect our motherland and guarantee our safety.”

Similarly, Secretary, Borno Elders’ Forum, Bulama Mali Gubio, shared the sentiments of Dr Mohammed.

“These people killed our people, what more evidence do we need? We called for their arrest a long time ago. Badeh admitted presiding over an ill equipped army, he should be tried for war crimes, what else do they want again?”

“When we called for his arrest at that time, they were calling us names, saying we were anti-government. The same Badeh presided over an ill-equipped army, saying he just watched as soldiers were killed, our communities were destroyed, our people were massacred.”

Kolapo Olapoju