The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has expressed worry over the security situation of the country, while calling on President Bola Tinubu to sack Defence Minister, Mohammed Abubakar Badaru, to stem the tide.
The group also criticized Ahmadu Jaha, a member of the House of Representatives from Borno State, for his stance on the current developments, describing it as misplaced and an act of betrayal.
The Ohanaeze youths, in a statement by its National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, expressed disappointment over the Defence Minister’s recent remarks, which they believed have left Nigerians in despair.
Abubakar had stated that Nigerian troops had better weapons but could not defeat insurgents because it was guerilla warfare and that the troops could not be everywhere at the same time.
Nnabuike said the Minister’s remarks were discouraging and not needed at a time Nigerians were going through a lot in the hands of criminals.
He noted that while the Minister tried to refute claims made by Yusuf Gagdi, a member of the House of Representatives from Plateau State, he ended up worsening the situation and leaving Nigerians in despair.
The Ohanaeze youths believed that the Defence Minister lacked the capacity to coordinate the armed forces and bring hope to ordinary Nigerians who are at the receiving end of the worsening insecurity.
The group urged President Tinubu to take decisive action by sacking the Minister and allowing more competent people to handle the important state function.
The statement read: “If the Minister said the criminals are having an upper hand because the troops will be in one place and the criminals will launch an attack at another place, it means there is no hope for the people.
“He even went as far as saying the criminals use drones but that they are improvised drones that may carry 10kg of EID. The implication of all of these is that he is telling Nigerians that they are now at the mercy of criminals, who have the capacity to strike at any time using improvised drones as he called it.”
“Clearly, it shows that the Defence Minister lacks the capacity to coordinate the armed forces and bring hope to ordinary Nigerians who are at the receiving end of the worsening insecurity,” Nnabuike said.
