The presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Isaac Ositelu, has asked the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency in the nation’s security architecture.
This, he said, has become necessary following the spate of killings by insurgents in parts of the country.
In a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday, Ositelu said it was unfortunate that each time the military claimed to have technically defeated the insurgents, the group usually responded with a bigger damage.
He said there should be an immediate end to the killings of Nigerians.
“It is unacceptable the way our people are being killed on a regular basis.
“No nation should stand aloof and watch with trepidation the deliberate and consistent carnage in our land,” he said.
Ositelu said it was demeaning to the image of the country how military bases were being attacked by Boko Haram fighters.
The presidential candidate promised to make military institutions fortresses that are impenetrable to armed gangs if elected President.
He said with the killings of military operatives and Nigerians, particularly, in the Northern states, his government would probe all defence and security budgets and expenditure from 1999 to 2018.
He noted that if the capital votes and releases to the military had been efficiently executed in the last 19 years, there was no way the Nigerian military would continue to come under violent attacks by the marauders and insurgent groups.
He added that that clear cut performance metrics would be used in defining the tenure of his security chiefs once the mantle of leadership is handed over to him.
Military commanders who failed to meet up to their deliverables, he said, would be asked to give way to a more robust leadership that is result-oriented.
Ositelu said the Nigerian military which had won international accolades across Africa and other parts of the globe had no business being decimated by insurgent militants.
Aside from providing the most modern equipment and training facilities for a combat-ready army, the candidate said welfare of the rank and file of the military would be top notch for his administration.
According to him, the impunity with which political leaders, the bureaucracy and military hierarchy siphon the funds meant for military equipment and welfare of the soldiers will be a thing of the past as those found culpable would be dealt with according to the laws of the land.
He said that budgets for military and security operations would be streamlined for results.
He added, “Never again will the Office of the National Security Adviser get more budgetary provisions than the sum allocated to the entire defence sector as witnessed in the recent past.
“My government will also try to address the ideological angle to the issue of insurgency by working with the stakeholders including clerics, traditional rulers and the civilian joint task force to nip such ideas in the bud in the future.”
