₦airaland Forum

“Also, after some time the fighting doctrine of the Nigerian Army was changed. We were essentially British brought up.

That means we knew how much materials we had, the tasks before us and so on. But along the line during the Obasanjo (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) regime, General Obasanjo brought Americans here and our doctrine approach was change to warfare.

“I make bold to tell you that up till today nobody understands that. I know it is a strategic concept of warfare but in Nigeria we are applying it to the operational and tactical level. It has created a lot of confusion within our army.

“Apart from that, our involvement in foreign operations and the kind of training we give to our soldiers for operations was a kind of defensive posture. You don’t kill until you are killed, you don’t attack until you are attacked.

“That also helped to change the orientation of some of our soldiers. Then again, I must mention here fraud within the ministry of defense, fraud within the military service systems themselves has contributed a lot to diminishing our fighting capability.

“Further to that again, we have the issue of our combat service support. Because of fraudulent activities, we monetized everything. Out supply services, our medical services are completely inefficient and are unable to support the fighting in the North East now. Right now I stand to question how our soldiers are being fed.”

Speaking earlier, Chairman Senate Committee on Defence, Senator George Thompson Sekibo said that the essence of the meeting was to know why the issue of insurgence persists in the country and the conflicting reports on the fight against Boko Haram in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

Senator Sekibo said, “Nigerians are worried over the security station. Rather than abate its worsening. The spokesperson of the military and the press are contradicting each other. We want to find out the true situation of the attacks.

“You will observe that the joint committee of the National Assembly on Defence met here with the Chief of Defence staff and other security chiefs from 10am to 3pm to get situation reports on insurgency problem in the three affected north eastern states as part of follow up to the approval of state of emergency in the affected state in May this year.

“We have heard several stories from the media on alleged upper hand of the insurgents against the military and the military telling us here that such stories were speculative, making it difficult for us to know which of the stories to believe.

“The military In fact debunked stories of major cities being taken over by the insurgents in the three states , though admitted that the insurgents had one of the towns as stronghold which according to them would be taken over from them in a matter of time from now.

“We have also been informed by them that presidency is doing more for them in terms of procurement of new war ammunition and improve in welfare packages and other things being done to boost the morale of those at the war front.

“But the committee has resolved to reach out to Mr President for direct interaction on the national problem with a view to knowing what and what are being done to fight the war to its logical conclusion which will definitely afford us the opportunity to put in our own pieces of advice.

“We also resolved to submit all our findings at this meeting today to the respective chambers on resumption about 12 days to come”.


Senator Sekibo said the Joint Committee wanted to know, “Who has captured where. We are worried about the contradictions. We want to know, is the military still equipped or not, what is the state of our equipment, are you having difficulties accessing funds, if there are funds to buy the equipment the moral of the soldiers will raise.


“State of emergency is in the third stage and things are worse. Do we evacuate people there and go for full scale war, were the funds released to you? We should know the problem. We at National Assembly will not rest on our oars. Some of our people at the National Assembly can’t go back to our states,” he stated.

Security situation is deteriorating—Sen. Saleh

But a member of the Senate Joint National Assembly Committee on Defence and an All Progressives Congress Senator from Kaduna Central, Senator Ahmed Saleh appeared to have dashed the hope of the military winning the war against terrorism even as he said that the situation was getting worse on daily basis.

Senators Saleh, a retired army general said, “What I am going to
say is based on my experience as an insider. Our duty here as senators of the federal republic transcends the extension of state of emergency. Our duty of oversight should ensure that high standards must be maintained in addition to acquiring all necessary equipment required to maintain a strong force.

“When the Chief of Defense Staff was appointed in January this year, the service chiefs made a categorical statement that within three months they will crush Boko haram. But unfortunately, what we are seeing is a complete deterioration of the situation, so it is incumbent on us to find out why that deterioration. We have heard about our soldiers’ mutiny, it is also our responsibility to find out why that is happening.

“For us to understand why that is happening, we need to go back to the Babangida (Gen. Ibrahim Babangida) era. After the 1990 Okar coup, the Federal Government of Nigeria systematically and comprehensively disarmed the military.

“All the tanks, all the artillery guns were disarmed and locked up. All the aircraft were parked in Ilorin and other places, flying stopped, training stopped to ensure regime security not national security.

“All the good officers of the Nigerian army were hounded out of the military. And there was over concentration of power at the centre which was the army headquarters. Prior to that, General Officers Commanding used to have training and maneuver grants.

“They had the power and responsibility to train their troops and battalions and to ensure an efficient logistics and service support system. All that stopped. Everything was from Army headquarters, everything was from Air Force headquarters, everything was from Naval headquarters.

“The attendant result was decay. Training was no longer going on at the battalion level, soldiers lost their skills and since then, no additional military equipment was purchased for the Nigerian Army. Even things as little as machine guns were in short supply, ammunition was in short supply.

“An individual soldier’s professional skill was to be a matchman, to shoot and hit his target but can he do that if he has no ammunition? We have a duty to rebuild this army, to rebuild this armed forces, and unless we understand these basic facts, we are not going anywhere.

ABUJA - AS the Boko Haram insurgents continue to have upper hand in the North East, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh has revealed that for the country to win the war against terrorism, there was the need for diplomatic lobbying for foreign assistance in areas of equipment.

But the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Mohammed Saleh said it was impossible for the military to win the terrorism war with the present obsolete equipment and the alleged fraud in Ministry of Defence and the Military Service.

Meanwhile, Senator Saleh has said that after the Gideon Okar coup of 1990 during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, the military was systematically and comprehensively disarmed which now makes it impossible for the army to effectively confront any external aggression.

Speaking at the National Assembly Joint Committee on Defence Thursday, the Chief of Defence Staff said that since the declaration of state of emergency in the three North East states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, the Armed Forces had been engaged in a sustained operations against the terrorists.

According to Air Marshal Badeh, “In the last one month, troops have sustained on-going offensive operations both in and outside seven division areas of operation to shape the theatre, establish fighting positions and limiting Boko Haram freedom of movement within the area of operation.

“Significantly, troupes are currently carrying out unlimited offensive operations aimed at denying Boko haram freedom of action and from achieving its aim to isolate and control areas around Maiduguri.

“Additionally, the involvement of the international community which led to the establishment of the joint planning committee on the 12 of May, 2014, the initial mandate of the joint coordination and planning committee which is championed by America and Britain was the fusion of intelligence for the rescue of abducted Chibok girls.

“But this gradually is being extended to other aspects of the operations. I want to state here that the military is highly engaged in operations in view of achieving favourable outcomes.

“Moreover, the continued attacks by the terrorists justify the imposition and extension of state of emergency because there is no alternative. Let me just say that Nigerians need not lose hope in the military but continue to support her in a bid to defeat the terrorists.

“Secondly, all other elements of national power should contribute more in support of military operations. Right now, the element of national power we are using is the military. Other elements of national power are not being engaged sufficiently.

“There is also the need for diplomatic lobbying for our foreign partners to provide more assistance in areas of equipment and whatever they can give us.”

thwarrior72: What sort of warped logic is this?

The speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has reiterated the commitment of the National Assembly to do justice to all the recommendations in the report of the National Conference which has been presented to President Goodluck Jonathan.

The speaker stated this at the weekend in Agba community, Ishielu local government area of Ebonyi State, shortly after the burial of Pa Elder Moses Edeh Akuru, the father of the member representing Ezza North/Ishielu Federal Constituency, Hon Peter Edeh and his twin brother, the Enugu Archbishop, Most Rev Christopher Nweke Edeh.

He said, “The National Assembly is waiting earnestly to receive the report of the National Conference. I am optimistic that the House will do justice to the report. We the members of the National Assembly also commiserate with one of our own, Hon Peter Edeh who represents Ishielu/ Ezza North federal constituency who lost his father, Pa Elder Moses Edeh who was the community leader of Agba community before his death.”

“I commend the people of this community for coming out en
masse to show appreciation for the life of our leader and father. He lived well as a community leader and served the people very well. There is no better way of appreciating him than to thank God for his life”.

Similarly, the prelate, Methodist Church, Dr Samuel Kanu Uche, said that the 2015 general election can be done without the North East geopolitical zone and expressed optimism that God will settle all crises rocking the nation ahead of the election.

According to him “My message to Nigerians is that, we should go on with the 2015 election. If the leaders of the North-East are not ready to cooperate we go ahead without them. But I want them to behave good and advise their children and sons so that the elections will take place in everywhere in Nigeria. But I think before then God will settle this matter. “Boko Haram are troubling the country. I am appealing to them to have a change of heart because if they destroy this country we have no
other country to call our own . I want them to know that they may be deceiving themselves if they think that Nigeria will ever be Islamised.

“Nigeria can never be Islamized. Nigeria will remain a circular state where people are free to practice their religions without interference.

The prelate stressed that the reports of the National Conference will survive in the National Assembly adding that President Jonathan has good purpose for convening the Conference and that N’ Assembly will not jeopardize that great efforts.

“I know that Jonathan means well for this country. I want to plead with Nigerians to understand Jonathan. I believe that National Assembly will look into the National Conference reports very well and give it approval” he said.

In a reaction, Hon. Peter Edeh commended the Speaker, Rt. Hon Tambuwal, the Ebonyi State Governor Chief Martin Elechi, the Prelate, Methodist Church of Nigeria and members of the All Progressive Congress,APC and other well meaning Nigerians that attended the occasion for their contribution towards the burial of his father.

Keneking: Are we in military rule now?
Is it not the job of the Civilian Governor to make such pronouncements?
Who is 7th division?

The 7th Divisional headquarters of the Nigerian army has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Maiduguri, Borno state capital. The curfew will persist until further notice according to a terse announcement by the army

The army reportedly took the action to forestall a plot by Boko Haram militants to seize Maiduguri; a plot earlier revealed by SaharaReporters.

Nigerian troops are currently battling the militants in Bama some 40 miles from Maiduguri.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/01/nigeria-army-imposes-dusk-dawn-curfew-maiduguri

hansad: APC winning in Niger State? That na big news? Is Niger not likey to be one of the sharia states? Is APC not all about one Nigeria governed by Sharia laws? Dreams of religious zealots. Abeg bring better news sha!

Mee234: Just like the apprehension over the defection of five PDP governors. I remember that PDP was at verge of disintegration back than. But lo! PDP is still the party to beat. The Lamido that could not muster the courage to defect with kwonkwoso and co will not do anything to the chance of PDP come 2015. Just say you wish PDP collapses before 2015, but as for Lamido being the cause, is a lie.

stinggy: Yes
But when does proffering a solution to a problem make you the creator of the problem


Jonathan once told us he knows who the sponsors are - Yes or No?

cramjone: Boko Haram sponsors lies in the court of the major opposition party.

- Cramjones

The widow of Dr. Iky Sam Enemua, the medical doctor who died of Ebola in Port Harcourt after treating an ECOWAS official infected by the virus, has been moved to Lagos.

Her three-month-old baby is also one of the 160 people under surveillance in the Garden City, the State Government announced yesterday in an update on the spread of the disease to the oil city.
Also under observation is a patient on whom the late medical doctor performed surgery shortly before he fell ill and 157 others who had direct contact with him.

Most of the contacts were patients he attended to in his Samsteel Clinic at Rumuokoro, Port Harcourt.
The rest are the doctor and other medical personnel who treated him at Greenhart Hospital, also in Port Harcourt, Health Commissioner Sampson parker told reporters.
Dr. Enemua was infected and later died after treating in a hotel, a Nigerian diplomat, Oluibukun Koye, who was among the group that received the late Patrick Sawyer, the Nigerian index case in Lagos.

Koye who was apparently in isolation sneaked out of isolation in Lagos and left for Port Harcourt, after booking appointment with the late doctor in the said hotel.
Enemua reportedly treated the diplomat in secret and thereafter proceeded to de-contaminate the hotel room.
He however fell ill soon afterward and was rushed to Green Hart Hospital where he died.
The hospital authorities appeared to be unaware of his health status at the time.

He is the sixth Ebola victim to die in Nigeria.
Commissioner Parker said more contacts might be detected in due course.
He urged anyone who might have come in contact with the deceased and others to come out.
He spoke of government’s determination to face the challenge headlong.

He said experienced and capable hands are ready for the challenge.
Already Federal Ebola Emergency Committee headed by the Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, and the Mobile Ebola Laboratory of the Federal Government are in Port Harcourt to assist the state government.

Dr. Parker also said that Mrs. Enemua ( widow of the doctor) who is the only symptomatic person among the 160 on the watch list had been moved to the Lagos treatment centre.

He explained that her movement became necessary for her emotion sake and also to allow the team in the state to concentrate on tracing the deceased’s contacts.
He urged members of the public not to panic over the disease or the corpse at the Unversity of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital(UPTH), stressing that the entire morgue and corpses would be de-contaminated.

The Chief Medical Director of UPTH, Prof. Aaron Ojule confirmed the plan to de-contaminate the mortuary and corpses yesterday evening, adding that contrary to widely spread speculation, Ebola virus does not survive in non-living organism.

Parker urged the people of the state, especially PDP members, to join hands in fighting the disease instead of indulging in politics.
He said the state government has invested so much in money and time in preparing to contain the virus.

He said: “As of today, the Rivers state Ebola Response Stakeholders meeting has been transformed to Emergency Operations Committee, like the National Committee.

“This is because the Abuja Epidemiological team (public Health group), the National Centre for Disease Control, some of the persons that worked in Lagos centre, the CDC, WHO, team from Hospital for Humanity in United States of America, group from Germany are all in Port Harcourt, we are now one team.”
He alleged plot by some people to politicise how Ebola got to the state.

His words: “This is not time for politics.When it is time for politics, we’ll play it, and no reasonable person should play politics with what we are facing now, because it can happen to anybody.

“Certain person in company of the late Liberian American citizen, Patrick Sawyer, identified as Oluibukun Koye, a diplomat who was among those that received Sawyer, sneaked out of Lagos after the death of Sawyer, to Port Harcourt, in connivance with one of his female colleagues, Lilian,dwho arranged for him to meet a Doctor in Port Harcourt who happened to be the now late Iky Sam Enemua,.

“They were looking for him in Lagos without any trace.Later they discovered he had boarded a flight to Port Harcourt.They quickly sent us his phone number with which we called him, but he did not answer, till after three days.We could not trace him in Port Harcourt.

“Lagos later called to say he had been found in Lagos; so nobody was sure he came to Port Harcourt.

“By the time he reappeared before the Lagos response team he was well again.He denied contact with anybody or going for treatment anywhere, so he was cleared and discharged, but was still under surveillance.

“After that he went his way and continued with his life, it was when he learnt about the death of the victim (Iky).

“In Port Harcourt, they checked into one of the local hotels around where he was treated.

“Dr. Iky actually treated him with the knowledge that he was suffering Ebola infection. We learnt that he tried to protect himself and also tried to de-contaminate the room after the treatment with a substance and left.

“He fell sick days after and was rushed to Green Hart Hospital at along Evo Road, GRA phase 2, Port Harcourt. Iky deceived the Doctor, he did not tell him about his contact with Ebola Victim.
“It was when news of his death came to Koye that he confessed that he travelled to Port Harcourt and was treated by Iky, that is how the information was discovered.”

chukwudi44: Bros I stood on the queue in lagos and voted during the last electins and I dont remember receiving instructions from Tinubu.I did not see him giving instructions either to other voters i met at my pooling booth so WTF are you saying? The same man who could not secure victory for his party in even a single local in ekiti state is now installing presidents abi? smh for you.Tinubu is politically irrelevant as far as the 2015 elections are concerned.Aregbesola won because of his own popularity in Osun and not because of any Tinubu Influence.i am waiting to see how he will secure victory in oyo for a highly unpopular Ajimobi during the next polls

chukwudi44: Talk is cheap!!! That was how Buhari won the 2011 polls on nairaland only to lose woefully in the main election

austinkenneth: Have you forgotten about the 25% of 24 states requirement?

1. REGISTERED VOTERS FROM NORTH CENTRAL STATES
Benue state = 2, 340 718
Nasarwa state = 1,291 876
Niger state = 2, 427 681
Kwara state = 1, 125 035
Kogi state = 1, 305 533
Plateau state = 2, 082 725
TOTAL REGISTERED FROM NORTH CENTRAL STATE = 10, 573 568

2. REGISTERED VOTERS FROM NORTH EAST STATES
Gombe state = 1, 208 927
Borno state = 2, 570 349
Adamawa state = 1, 682 907
Bauchi state = 2, 502 609
Taraba state = 1, 279 394
Yobe state = 1, 203 324
TOTAL REGISTERED VOTERS FROM NORTH EAST STATE = 10, 447 510

3. REGISTERED VOTERS FROM NORTH WEST STATES
Kano state = 4, 751 818
Kaduna state = 3, 743 815
Kastina state = 2, 928 046
Sokoto state = 2, 113 698
Kebbi state = 1, 450 734
Zamfara state = 1, 802 307
Jigawa state = 1, 817 087
TOTAL REGISTERED VOTERS FROM NORTH WEST STATES = 18, 522 304

4. REGISTERED VOTERS FROM SOUTH EAST STATES
Abia state = 1, 387 844
Anambra state = 1, 784 536
Ebonyi state = 1, 020 011
Enugu state = 1, 313 128
Imo state = 1, 672 666
TOTAL REGISTERED VOTERS FROM SOUTH EAST STATE = 7,178 185

5. REGISTERED VOTERS FROM SOUTH SOUTH STATES
Akwa-Ibom state = 1, 621 798
Bayelsa state = 590 679
Cross river state = 1, 160 489
Delta state = 2, 044 372
Rivers state = 2, 456 977
Edo state = 1, 593 485
TOTAL REGISTERED VOTERS FROM SOUTH SOUTH STATES = 9, 467 800

6. REGISTERED VOTERS FROM SOUTH WEST STATES
Lagos state = 5, 426 391
Ogun state = 1, 796 024
Oyo state = 2, 487 132
Osun state = 1, 318 120
Ondo state = 1, 472 237
Ekiti state = 688 950
TOTAL REGISTERED VOTERS FROM SOUTH WEST STATES = 13, 188 854.

Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State has vowed to sack workers employed by the Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, after his defeat in the June 21 governorship election.

In a statement by the State Publicity Secretary, Kola Oluwawole, in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, the party accused the All Progressives Congress-led government of embarking on frivolous recruitment and promotion a few weeks to the handover.

Describing all the appointments and recruitment made as booby trap for the incoming Governor, Ayodele Fayose, the PDP said the government had acted “callously and primitively” because “no responsible outgoing government will put land mines on the way of its successor.”

The party claimed it had records of staff strength in the state public service before the June 21 poll and was following the bogus appointments and illegal recruitment in various sectors afterwards.

Oluwawole said, “We know what the staff strength in the core civil service, the teaching service, the local government, the House of Assembly, the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State and others was before the June 21 governorship election in which our party thoroughly trounced Fayemi and his APC.

“We also know how the Fayemi administration has illegally recruited over 3,000 into the civil service, 1,000 into Ekiti State University, over 100 into BSES, and over 1500 into the teaching service among others after they lost the election and how they are clever by half by backdating the letters of appointment.

“The question the good people of Ekiti State should ask Fayemi and his party is why are they just waking up to engage in massive recruitment in the twilight of their tenure in office?

Those given such letters of appointment should consider themselves to be on temporary appointment and as having a victory that is short-lived,” he said.

Oluwawole also accused the government of unethical recruitment of several non-indigenes stressing that the recruitment “could never stand the test of time.”

But the Commissioner for Information, Tayo Ekundayo, said he was not aware of any employment by the government after the June 21 governorship election.

According to him, the PDP has continued to raise spurious allegations just to be in the news.

He said, “I am not aware of any employment into the civil service commission. But if there is any need for us to recruit people base on budget and need, of course, we will go ahead and recruit. Are the people they said we have recruited not indigenes of Ekiti.

“If they are from Ekiti, then, they have the rights to be employed if there is vacancy. So, we do not owe anybody any apology. They (PDP) are just unnecessarily getting excited over their so called election victory.

“They can decide to sack anybody they like when they get to office. We have said we didn’t recruit and the university has also denied the allegation. They only want to be in the news all the time even for wrong reasons. As am speaking, we are preparing the handover note to reveal all we have done before and after the election,” Ekundayo added.

Cheks01: I don't see why he should be impeached. Politics....