The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said that those calling for interim national government were being ‘mischievous’, warning the proponents of the idea against unconstitutional venture.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Musa Danmadami, fielding questions from journalists on Thursday after the biweekly update on Armed Forces of Nigeria operations between March 23 – April 6, 2023, said the military will always defend what the constitution says.
He said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had conducted elections and declared a president-elect which the military recognises.
He attributed the recent spike in kidnappings to the reversal of cashless policy.
He said: “on the issue of interim government, it is rather unfortunate, an election has been conducted and INEC who is mandated has announced a president-elect, it is not our responsibility to speak on that issue but I know that several calls have been made from the Presidency that there is nothing like interim national government.
“So I think people were just trying to be mischievous. It is unconstitutional and all of us know that, the constitution does not provide for an interim national government and that is the point the Presidency has been hammering and that is our stand because that is what the constitution says, it is unconstitutional. So, anything unconstitutional as far as I’m concerned, it is not applicable.”
He said ending kidnapping requires “a whole of society and government approach”
He, however, noted that the military was working round the clock to tame the menace of kidnapping and other criminal activities occasioned by the return of cash in the society.
“I don’t want to say categorically clear but we are all aware that before the cash crunch, they kidnap anybody but now there is no cash to pay, the criminals have to make use of the fact that there is no cash and unfortunately with the reversal of the policy making cash available, the criminals have impetus to do what they are doing, though I know that there is still some elements of cash squeeze going on. We are equally faced with that problem of cash crunch. However, I want to assure you that the Military, we are still doing our job, we have not rested,” the DHQ spokesperson added.
He said troops within the period under review arrested 59 terrorists, collaborators, informants and other criminal elements, killing 45 terrorists while 974 terrorists comprising 77 adult males, 364 adult females and 533 children surrendered to troops at different locations within the joint areas of operations.
The troops recovered N2,321,015.00 from terrorists logistics suppliers and rescued 118 civilians from captivity in North-East, North-West and North-Central theatres of operations.
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