The presidential candidate of the Accord Party, AP, Isaac Ositelu, has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the nation’s security structure with immediate effect.
According to him, it has become necessary to do so as a result of the spate of killings by insurgents in parts of the country.
Ositelu in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday, noted that it was unfortunate that each time the military claimed to have technically defeated the insurgents, they reacted by doing something more damaging. He spoke in reference to the Metele killings.
The Presidential candidate said there should be an immediate end to the killing of Nigerians.
Positing that it was demeaning to the image of the country how military bases were being attacked by Boko Haram terrorists, Ositelu said: “It is unacceptable the way our people are being killed on a regular basis. No nation should stand aloof and watch with trepidation the deliberate and consistent carnage in our land,” he said.
He therefore promised to make military institutions impenetrable fortresses to armed gangs if elected President adding that with the killing of military operatives and Nigerians, especially in the Northern states, his government would probe all defence and security budgets and expenditure from 1999 to 2018.
Ositelu argued that if the capital votes and releases to the military had been efficiently utilised in the last 19 years, there was no way the Nigerian military would continue to come under violent attacks by the marauders and insurgent groups.
According to him, the Nigerian military which had won accolades across Africa and other parts of the globe should not be so decimated by insurgent militants.
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Besides providing the most modern equipment and training facilities for a combat-ready army, Ositelu said welfare of the rank and file of the military would also be looked into by his administration promising that siphoning of funds meant for military equipment and welfare of the soldiers will be a thing of the past as those found culpable would be dealt with according to the laws of the land.
He also assured that if elected president, the Office of the National Security Adviser will no longer get more budgetary provisions than the sum allocated to the entire defence sector as witnessed in the recent past.
