Ologbondiyan noted

“Since the arrival of Kimo, there has been mounting tension and escalated siege mentality in Akwa Ibom State, particularly in the state legislature where thugs, backed by the police, have been invading the premises, disrupting legislative activities, harassing staff members and hindering them from performing their responsibilities.”

He said their plot was to forcibly take over the state or any other PDP-controlled state, warning that this would be firmly resisted by the people of those states and could lead to a crisis of unprecedented magnitude that has the capacity of truncating democracy in the country.

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The incident of 18th November 2018

“The incident of 18th November 2018, happened at a time when the Nigerian Army was planning to hold the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference for 2018 in Benin City, Edo State. On account of this incident, the Conference had to be moved from Benin City to Maiduguri to enable the Nigerian Army leadership get closer to the troops on the ground and to better appraise our activities, assess our performance and identify our shortcomings as an Army.

“Since 2015, the Nigerian Army in conjunction with sister services and other security agencies have systematically degraded the capabilities and capacity of Boko Haram terrorists and many successes were achieved. However, in the last 2 – 3 months, we have noticed daring moves by the terrorists, increased use of drones against our defensive positions and infusion of foreign fighters in their ranks. These potent threats require us to continually review our operations.

“At this point permit me to implore all of us to spare a thought for the brave men and women of the Nigerian Army who paid the supreme price for the security of Nigeria. The Nigerian Army will continue to support the families of these brave officers and soldiers and pray that their souls rest in perfect peace. Let us also not forget the men, women and children who have been killed or affected by the atrocities of the terrorists. It is for their sake that this war against terror must be won.”

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Shehu listed the laws

Shehu listed the laws as  the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017; Anti-Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Bill 2017;  Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill 2017; Proceeds of Crime Bill 2017; Public Interest Disclosure and Witness Protection Bill, 2017; and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2017.

On Jonathan’s assertion that his administration introduced the policies the Buhari administration has been using to fight corruption, the Presidency disagreed.

Shehu said, “Nigerians should dismiss Dr Jonathan’s hollow boast that he, not President Buhari, introduced schemes such the Biometric Verification Number, the Treasury Single Account and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System. Of what use is the announcement of good policies without the will to implement them?

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The Presidency stated

Furthermore, the Presidency stated that Buhari introduced the whistle-blower policy to cut fraud and financial misconduct.

“Within six months of introducing this policy, over 5,000 reports were made through various channels, 365 actionable tips were received out of the 5,000 reports. So far more than N200bn has been recovery,” it added.

On the recovery made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Presidency said as of 2015, there was only N19.5bn in the recovery account.

“After one year of the new anti-corruption drive by the Buhari administration, this figure had gone up to N279 bn, and since then a lot more has been recovered”, it stated.

The Presidency further noted that Jonathan’s book really didn’t have anything to say about his achievements or those of the Peoples Democratic Party’s 16 years in office, hence the resort to making excuses.

The Presidency said, “As evidenced from a fleeting look at the book, the former President had nothing to say about his own achievements. If there was a recession, and yes we had a moment in it, was it due to one year of President Buhari’s government?

“In his efforts to blame everyone but himself for his failures, Dr Jonathan heaped the blame for the predictable economic recession on President Buhari, ignoring the seeds sown under him through mismanagement and the process set in firm roots for the decline of the economy. Evidently, he did nothing to avert the situation.”

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The President's visit

The presidential visit comes after months of deadly raids by the IS-affiliated jihadists on military bases, which have left scores of troops dead or missing in the volatile North-east.

In a posting on Twitter on Monday, presidential spokesman, Mr. Bashir Ahmad, said Buhari would attend the army conference in Maiduguri as well as address troops to boost their morale.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his planned official visit to Benin, Edo State tomorrow, to visit Maiduguri, Borno State on Wednesday,” he wrote.

The president had severally noted that fighting terrorism had taken a global dimension, which necessitated international collaboration among states facing similar security challenges.

He had reassured Nigerians of his continued commitment to their security and of his efforts to sustain the momentum in the previous significant successes recorded against the terrorists, advising Nigerians against making a political capital out of the national tragedy.

Meanwhile, believing that the huge funds budgeted to wage war against Boko Haram terrorist group are not being properly utilised by the military authorities, the National Assembly has commenced investigations into alleged dirty deals by military high command.

THISDAY gathered yesterday that the leaderships of both the Senate and House of Representatives have directed their relevant committees to probe how the huge funds budgeted for the prosecution of the on-going war against terror in the last three and a half years has been spent.

From the House of Representatives, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Chukwuka Onyema, in a motion moved under matter of urgent national importance, urged that after the killing of 118 soldiers and their commanding officer, Lt. Col. Ibrahim Sakaba, with about 150 more soldiers and officers still missing, the house should extensively deliberate the issue.

While amending the motion, three lawmakers, Mohammed Sani Abdu, Isaac Gyang and Hassan Saleh, however, urged the house to investigate the funding for the military’s fight against the insurgency.

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Expressed worry over the killing of the soldiers

The Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who presided over the deliberations, expressed worry over the killing of the soldiers, noting that something must have gone wrong in Nigeria’s war against insurgency, especially considering that countries like Chad, Cameroon are securing their borders more effectively.

The lawmakers resolved that the probe, which is to be conducted by an ad hoc committee, should be constituted immediately to also look into the operational lapses that led to the killing of the soldiers by the insurgents.

The lawmakers also called on the military high command to release the names of fallen soldiers after due consultation with members of their families.

Dogara urged that there is urgent need to curb insecurity in the country, wondering whether or not the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF), which comprises Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin Republics are still tackling the Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region.

Abdu (Bauchi, APC) particularly called for the probe of the $1billion recently appropriated by the National Assembly to prosecute the Boko Haram insurgency.

Also contributing to the debate, Aliyu Magaji called for the immediate sack of the entire service chiefs, saying they have failed and wondered how long they would be there to be attending funeral services of soldiers.

Abdulsamad Dasuki, who chairs the House committee on Navy, claimed that the armed forces is not only technologically backward, it could only boast of about 200,000 soldiers, which he said is not enough to protect about 200 million Nigerians and its borders stretching from the Chad Basin to the Atlantic Ocean.

Dasuki, who also claimed that the service chiefs had failed to live up to expectations, insisted that Buhari has failed Nigerians on his promise to secure the country.

A ranking senator who spoke with THISDAY last night alleged that corruption among military high command might have compounded the security challenges in the North-east in the past few months.

He said in spite of the huge funds the present government had received to engage the terrorist group, it has not bought any ammunition in the last three years.

According to him, ‘’Our investigation has revealed that it was the several units of highly effective sophisticated weapons from Eastern Europe, which former President Goodluck Jonathan administration bought that the military is still using.

For instance, it was gathered that the former administration acquired 60 units of computerized T72 tanks, alongside 30 units of transports vehicles, which were said to have been deployed in various war fronts against the insurgents before now.

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