The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Wednesday accused
some defeated politicians in the just concluded general elections of
being responsible for the current heightened insecurity in parts of the
country.
Buratai leveled the accusation in Maiduguri when he received the
House Committee on Army led by its Chairman, Rep. Remande Shawulu, at
the Theatre Command.
“The myriad of security challenges we are facing now in the North
West, North Central and other parts of the country, I want to believe
and rightly so, is the fall out of the just concluded general elections.
“There are several political interests, politicians in particular not
happy with their defeat and therefore, trying to take revenge,
sponsoring some these criminal activities.
“There are strong political undertone, strong political influence.
“So, I will use this opportunity to call on the honourable members
here to prevail on some of these politicians to look at national
interest first before any other political or sectional interest.
“We have some strong evidences but we are still being cautious so that we don’t get it wrong,’’ Buratai said.
The army chief advised those politicians against doing anything to aggravate the security challenges.
Earlier, Shawulu said that the committee was at the theatre for its usual oversight function.
He paid tribute to officers and soldiers, who had died in course of
the counter insurgency operation, saying they sacrificed their lives for
the security and peace of the North East and country at large.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee visited the
Maimalary Military Cemetery, where three personnel killed by IED on
Monday were buried and 7 Division Military hospital to empathise with
wounded soldiers.
