APC condemns North-East killings
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the spate of mass killings by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east.
The party described the insurgents as cowards for targeting unarmed civilians, especially women and children.
A statement issued in Abuja yesterday by the party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed said nothing could justify the senseless slaying of innocent civilians by marauding insurgents.
The party reminded insurgents they could not win the ill-advised war they have leveled against their fatherland.
The “party sympathised with the government and condoled the people of the affected states, especially Borno which has borne the brunt of the attacks as a result of killings and the destruction of houses and other properties.”
It added that, while the Nigerian military has undoubtedly recorded some successes against the insurgents, “It is time for it to renew and strengthen its strategy to prevent the kind of mass killings by the insurgents in recent times, especially in the remote areas.”
Also, the opposition party has asked the presidency to stop being defensive and but to concentrate on providing the military with all it requires to defeat the insurgents.
The party described as counter-productive, “unwarranted and ill-advised the verbal attacks launched against Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima by the presidency, for stating the obvious, that our soldiers need to be adequately equipped and properly motivated, if they are to be able to subdue Boko Haram.”
“We know that several of the presidency’s attack dogs are terribly under-employed and that they need to face the klieg lights time and again to justify the huge taxpayers fund being expended on them, but the truth is that they ridicule no one but themselves and the presidency when they have to bark at the victims of the deadly Boko Haram attacks from the comfort of their padded offices in Abuja.
The APC also urged the military to increase its intelligence gathering capability with a view to nipping in the bud the attacks on civilians and military targets, including barracks.
“The delay in acceding to requests from troops on the field concerning logistical challenges, due to unnecessary bottlenecks at the level of the political authorities, is exploited by Boko Haram to carry out daring and deadly attacks not just on civilians but on the military itself.”