Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, on Wednesday said the Armed Forces of Nigeria operations at the peak of the Boko Haram terrorist activities in Northeast Nigeria was polticised.
General Irabor, who spoke at the maiden 21st Century Chronicle Roundtable held at the Shehu Ya;radua Centre, Abuja with the theme: “Going for broke: Fighting Insecurity in Nigeria,” lamented that “at some point, the military approach to tackling insecurity was polticised. It became profound that even the good intentions of the military was misunderstood.”
He spoke just as Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim, Second Republic Governor of old Niger State and Emir of Suleja, said the growing number of terrorists’ and bandits’ informants is worrisome.
Expressing worry at “the growing army of informants who reveal information to bandits,” Alhaji Ibrahim also said some of the contents on social media are sources of serious concern in view of the negative things being published.
The Emir recalled that long before now, the traditional institution had a way of knowing the kind of people who come to the community and engage in information gathering which they analyse, noting that with the strategy, the traditional rulers could maintain security within their domain.
“We contribute to the security of the nation because the government would call upon us to see to the possibility of restoring the lost glory, he added, but pledged to offer whatever assistance required in the effort at ensuring security of the community and the people.
On the social media, the Emir said the media has to show responsibility on how to air their stories as ”we have to find a way of airing stories instead of e making things more difficult for us in trying to trace criminals.”
He lamented that corruption has become endemic in the country and “I hope this conference will find a way of ending it.”
He commended the 21st Century Chronicle for organising the Roundtable.
