Director-General, APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chibuike Amaechi “The soldiers have the right to protest for the federal government’s failure to fully equip them.” – Director-General, APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chibuike Amaechi In what could be deemed a significant deviation from the Nigerian Armed Forces’ doctrine, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation on Tuesday endorsed the incidents of mutiny by soldiers and officers of the all-volunteer Nigerian Army, who had sworn to defend Nigeria’s territorial integrity, but refused to fight when they were sent to combat terrorism in the North-east. Enunciating the position of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, whose candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, is a retired army major-general, former military head of state and must be conversant with the Nigerian Armed Forces Act, its Director-General (DG) and Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, said the soldiers sentenced to death by the Nigerian military authorities were within their rights to protest. Amaechi made the statement, while briefing newsmen in Lagos on the plans and modalities of how as the DG for the Buhari campaign, his team, whose members would be announced soon, will work for the victory of the APC in next year’s presidential election. However, it was not clear if the pronouncement by the APC campaign organisation was a new defence policy plank, which it intends to pursue should Buhari win the presidential election, or realpolitiks, which will be a dangerous dimension of bringing the Nigerian Armed Forces into the 2015 election. According to Amaechi, “The challenge of the Nigerian military is not funding but corruption. Now they want to kill some 50 officers for their own failure to equip them properly to fight terrorism. The soldiers have the right to protest for the federal government’s failure to fully equip them.” He said Buhari as president will adequately deal with the Boko Haram menace. “I hope that Nigerians will hear the message. The message is simple. Buhari is a strong leader who chased away the Maitatsine terror group. In the same manner, he will chase away Boko Haram. “Borno was attacked once by Chadian rebels and Buhari then chased them away, even into the border of Chad. He will do that again with the Boko Haram sect. The issue of Boko Haram is not religious but poverty is what will make people go and register with any terrorist group.” When asked why the APC was waiting for when they get into power to deal with the issue of Boko Haram, Amaechi said: “If we had the power to stop the insurgency we would have done that to salvage the three North-east states presently under emergency rule.” Contrary to Amaechi’s assertion, the three North-east states are no longer under emergency rule as it expired last month. According to him, “State governors do not have the power to end the insurgency but the federal government does. The issue of security is in the exclusive list. APC as it stands cannot do anything to end the insurgency because we are not in power.” On what could happen if elections don’t hold in the states under emergency rule, Amaechi said failure to conduct elections in the states could plunge Nigeria into a constitutional crisis. “How will the states governors continue without an election? We need to be careful not to enter into a constitutional crisis just because the president wants to win re-election.” Asked to clarify his position on the allegation that he used Rivers State’s funds to finance Buhari’s victory at the APC presidential primary, Amaechi reiterated his earlier position. “I did not. We did not spend money. We have maintained that Nigerians will fund us. “Anyone with evidence should bring that out. We are launching a campaign fund for Buhari and we are talking with the general to make him the only signatory to it. “We cannot fight the president with money. Look at how he has raised his own funds through people he was supposed to prosecute for engaging in the fuel subsidy fraud but didn’t. We can only fight the president with the people clamouring for change in every corner of Nigeria.” Accusing the federal government of engaging and encouraging corruption through the petrol subsidy fraud, Amaechi said: “When we said that N1.9 trillion (subsidy money) was missing, I was speaking with facts. As the chairman of the governor’s forum, I was in a meeting when we discovered that money was missing. “The president promised the governors that he will collect the money but failed. Later he said he will prosecute the people responsible but also failed. “I was speaking with facts because later the National Assembly discovered that it was actually N2.3 trillion that was missing. “Also when the CBN governor then said that money was missing; yes he was not consistent with the figures but then truth be told that money was missing. Why didn’t the president investigate the missing money? But instead he sacked Sanusi for saying that money was missing.” Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, who is now the Emir of Kano, had in his letter to the president said oil revenue that was to be remitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federation Account was unaccounted for. Amaechi maintained that while the Buhari presidency would make certain that all those who had stolen Nigeria’s money return it, said: “He will also in the process deal with the issue of power because if you cannot solve that challenge it will affect unemployment. “Also on agriculture, I believe that Buhari as president will deal with it and create employment.” On his campaign strategy, he said his team will not follow in the footsteps of the presidency by engaging in propaganda, but will deal with issues. “The only reason they (PDP) are calling Buhari “semi-illiterate” is because they have no other issue to campaign with. “The president has a Ph.D in Zoology but how many farms or related unemployment programme has he done with that degree? The election is about what Nigerians want. “Do you want to choose a man who has brought tears to your eyes or a man who is a proven performer?” he asked. Responding to allegations that the Rivers government had not paid civil servants’ salaries for eight months, Amaechi said: “I have paid up till December salary. The presidents spokesperson even made this allegation of non-payment of salaries but imagine the president’s spokesman speaking without facts. “When Buhari becomes president, this will never happen. Anyone who becomes his spokesperson must always speak with facts.”
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:54:09 +0000
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