by James Sambo
The Nigerian military has finally spoken on the reason behind its suggestion of a shift in the dates of the general elections.
While stating that the motives behind the pushing forward of the polls’ date was not politically motivated, the military said it was to enable it take delivery of the long awaited weapons meant for prosecuting the war agains Boko Haram insurgents.
Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, made the disclosure on Wednesday, March 4, while receiving drugs and other items worth over N70 million donated by the Association of Pharmaceutical Importers of Nigeria, APIN to assist the Nigerian Armed Forces in the war against insurgents.
He said: “I do not want to bring politics into it, whoever wants to bring politics into what we are doing, it’s left for him. I want whoever is saying that to know that war machines are not picked up from the shelf, if it were, we would have got them.”
“When you make orders, it takes time to produce and it takes time also to train on them. So, we did not place the orders today, we had placed orders before now and when they started coming, we asked for more time to combat the insurgents before the elections. I can guarantee you that there is no politics in the demand for shift in date, it is just because we were receiving the equipment.”
Badeh also called on Nigerians to lend their support to the military in the ongoing fight against insurgency in the country.
He said: “Part of the overall strategy of tackling insecurity is to build synergy with the civil populace, especially for support and vigilance in reporting the activities of suspicious elements and the movements of insurgents.”
“This is borne out of our strong conviction that the war against insurgents is not a war for the armed forces alone. As I have always said, when the military is at war, it is not the military alone that is at war, rather it is the entire nation.”
“Accordingly, all instrument of national power, ranging from diplomatic, informational, military to economic are employed to ensure that threats to national security are contained and defeated.”
Leave a reply