By Francis Onoiribholo
Bureau Chief, Benin
President Goodluck Jonathan has been called upon to urgently embark on total overhaul of the existing security agencies in the country if he is actually poised to end the blood letting being perpetrated by the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
The call is coming on the heels of claims by the military, through its Director of Information, Brigadier General, Chris Olukolade, that 121 of the 129 abducted female students had been freed by a combined civilian Joint Task Force, (JTF).
The pressure group, South-South Mandate, based in Benin, in a release jointly signed by its President Curtis Eghosa Ugbo, and secretary, Mathew Edaghase, at the weekend, also lampooned the military authority for giving out information to Nigerians that is “anchored on falsehood” over kidnapped students of Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.
While describing as an embarrassment and a mockery of the nation’s security system, the group declared: “this is a monumental embarrassment and the world would be mocking Nigeria if the military high command can come out in broad day light that they have rescued the girls and even gave figures and quoted the numbers and went ahead to say one terrorist was killed.”
“It was clear that they lied when the parents demanded to see their children coupled with the school principal’s rebuttal. The question is that, why on earth should a military command give information anchored on falsehood? At a time we are facing serious security challenges, it shows how terribly we have sunk as a nation.
“The other day, I watched how Doyin Okupe tried to castigate Leadership Newspapers over its editorial that Nigeria was a failed state and that was the same period the military command could take the whole nation on a ride to lay claim to feats that they never had. If a nation has not failed I don’t see why the lie?”
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