Reported by
Abdullahi Adam Muhammad
Africa-Press – Nigeria. It has become a part of political and managerial culture and civilization in other international communities to have newsmen besieging the shelter of the President or the prime minister of the particular country, waiting for him to come out to address the nation and the world about any incident that involves the nation or claims the lives of citizens.This will allow the citizens know the authenticity of what happens and be alert of the action authorities are going to take in order to control and to prevent the spreading of the disaster.
In Nigeria however, this is an unknown culture, as authorities always remain unenthusiastic about displaying eagerness in letting the citizens know what is going on and whatever they may want to know about it. Despite the fact that there are some issues that may deserve to be secret and not public, while many other issues must be exposed so as to build the confidence in the people and to display the integrity, responsibility, accountability and the best among others the transparency.
Africa Press, met Mukhtar Anwar, a political columnist, a writer and a commentator, who said that, “It is unfortunate this administration does not adhere to the system of transparency. Transparency is one of the pillars of democracy. They should not forget they were elect by the citizens. For example, you hear one elite in the administration saying they know those who are supporting or financing the terrorist groups. But they haven’t arrested or arraigned any one. They forget that those whose relatives were killed catch what they are saying that they know the killers of their beloved ones and relatives without doing anything on it. If election comes, do they think that those people will vote for them?”.
Some Nigerians stormed the twitter complaining about the silence promoted by Nigerian Presidency, condemning the way they handle the case of the loss of this patriotic gallant Nigerian chief of army staff, Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and his colleagues.
The loss of Gen. Attahiru should attain National holiday mourning with a view to encourage our patriotic soldiers to help them feel that their effort is plausible, their lives are precious and their services will never be in vain. Buhari should visit and commiserate with the families and relatives of the victims, sending messages of condolence on twitter will not be enough, according to them.
Mr. Anwar Added that, “The issue of condemnations by some Nigerians of the absence of President Buhari himself and his Vice at the venue of funeral and burial of this great Generals who lost their lives, no doubt one may say that the Federal government hasn’t do what is right. According to the information that is reaching us there are some advancements in the matter of the war against terrorism, kidnappings and other related crimes after the coming of this General. If the president had attended, it would have been a kind of inspiration to the soldiers in the battle field to get additional courage…”
Africa Press wanted to know whether there is any conspiracy behind the death of the Late COAS? Anwar said, “One may not instantly say yes or no. Some are putting question marks over the incident. In Nigeria what you don’t expect it to happen may happen, and what you expect it to happen may not happen. Plane crash is not something unusual. But there are many reasons that cause a plane crash. Sometimes, may be a technical problem; may be the plane is old. There may be another risk. Everything can happen. There is a need for a thorough investigation for everyone to distinguish.”
Calling for Overhaul of the Air Force system
As research indicates, Nigerian military is the biggest and the largest security sector, in West Africa, at least. With the number of over 200,000 armed forces personnel, Nigeria has been training armies of the neighboring countries as they send their officers every year to acquire some training and disciplines in Nigeria. Reports noted that Nigerian police officers have recently been to Somalia where they are expected to train Somalian Police. In addition to that, Nigerian soldiers have been participating in international peace keeping under the banner of the United Nations in so many countries around the globe whenever there is a conflict.
In order to reduce the loss of lives of our army officials, analysts are of the view that a total overhaul should be implemented in the military sector, particularly the Air Force. They emphasized that there is an urgent need to provide them with modern equipment, resources and any support they may request.
“…you know the reports revealed that the terrorist carrying weapons that are better and newer than that of our soldiers. Those who are collecting billions of money with a view to purchase weapons are to be asked what is the problem with the aircrafts. Whether the aircrafts are old, whether they are in need of services. Let them come out and inform Nigerians…” Anwar concluded.
” Coas was assassinated” this the comment of most of Nigerians in regards to the death of army chief.