Armed Forces Rememberance Day: Nothing to celebrate in face of insecurity, elders tell Buhari
A group acting under the auspices of Coalition of Patriotic Nigeria Elders (COPANE) have said the best way to celebrate the 2021 Armed Forces Remembrance Day would have been for President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the service chiefs and rejig the entire security architecture following the worsening insecurity in the country.
They said there was nothing to celebrate in this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day because of the inability of the President to address the numerous problems confronting members of the Armed Forces alive, especially the frontline troops.
The elders in a statement, Saturday, vowed to begin imminent mobilisation of Nigerians against the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC if it fails to immediately prevail on the president to act swiftly on the restructuring of security architecture to save the country from further misfortunes.
The statement was signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Prof. Habu Usman Galadima, National Secretary, Dr (Mrs) Grace Onanefe and Legal Adviser, Barr. Muhammad Ibrahim Postiskum, respectively.
“While we celebrate and pray for our heroes past who had served our dear country and paid the ultimate price as members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, we wish to state that there is nothing to celebrate in this year Armed Forces Remembrance Day because of the inability of Mr President to address the numerous problems confronting members of the Armed Forces alive, especially those in the frontlines.
“We observe with regret that the long and unnecessary tenure of the current service chiefs has not only affected career progression, in the Armed Forces of Nigeria today but also resulted in low morale among officers and men of the services besides other forms of setbacks. This is unconstitutional.
“The best gift Nigerians were expecting at this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day was the sack of all the service chiefs,followed with the appointment of younger officers with zeal and commitment to end this war,” they said in the statement.
The elders said the president’s speech at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day event was empty given that it failed to address insecurity threatening the country.
They faulted the president for maintaining adamant posture in the face of various calls for the sack of the security heads and their subsequent replacement with new hands.
Acting under the auspices of Coalition of Patriotic Nigeria Elders (COPANE),the elders observed that the inability of pigeons to fly having been released to that effect by President Buhari during event held yesterday in Abuja to mark the Armed Forces Remembrance Day was a strong indication that Nigeria was not at peace.
According to them, “It goes to show that Nigeria is not peaceful yet. It also shows that God may be angry with this administration on the way it is handling issue of peace and security in this country.
“Pigeons, though are birds but they possess some spiritual elements that deliver critical updates on human lives. So, their deliberate refusal to fly was a huge sign that the right things are not being done by you in terms of peace and security,” they observed.
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