Former Vice president and 2019 presidential candidate of Nigeria’s opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, said it was time for a total war on terror in the country.
Atiku, in a message released on his social media page on Tuesday, said the security situation in Nigeria was deteriorating rapidly and ordinary Nigerians were living in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
He said nowhere seemed to be safe.
His words: “Farms, markets, schools, homes, mosques, churches, and urban areas are all affected. Terrorists are spreading their areas of operation beyond the Northeast, into far flung areas as far as Niger State in the North-Central. That is merely hours from our Federal Capital.
“Now is the time for decisive leadership and I call on the Federal Government to consider recalling all ex-servicemen and women, who are willing to return to service, and take the fight to the insurgents, until they are rolled back and defeated,”.
Atiku also advise the Federal Government to call up military veterans and mobilise them to the field.
“As a former vice chairman of the National Security Council, I am aware that Nigeria has a sizeable population of military veterans, who are alive, and were trained locally and internationally, and it serves no purpose to allow these valuable national assets lie fallow when there is an existential threat to our nation.
“Call them up. Immediately. Mobilise them to the field. The time has come for us to put in all our effort and stamp out this menace from our nation.
“The men and women of Nigeria’s armed forces, whether serving or retired, who restored peace to Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Príncipe can, and should be used to do the same in the motherland.
“But they need arms and ammunition. It is incumbent on the federal government to develop a more efficient means of sourcing for weapons and delivering them to the troops at the battlefront,” he said.
He added that a situation where terrorists and criminals were better armed than the troops on the battlefront was intolerable.
“We need to urgently improve the conditions of service of the men and women of our armed forces. And not just the government.
“The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, working in concert with primary mortgage institutions, ought to offer the men and women of our armed forces special concessionary mortgage loans so they can own homes,” he added.
Atiku also asked the private sector to be encouraged to offer discounted services to military personnel in appreciation of their services.
He said there was no sacrifice greater than to lay down ones life for the motherland.
“When our military isb properly rewarded, they will fight more valiantly and gallantly. A nation that rewards courage is one that avoids outrage,” Atiku said.
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