Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, has called for the removal of all the service chiefs following the killing of over 100 Nigerian soldiers in Metele, Borno State, by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
Afenifere made the position known on Tuesday, November 28, 2018 in a communique it issued after its monthly meeting held at the home of its leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary, who read the communique, also demanded the probe of what happened to the funds the Federal Government claimed it had expended on security in the country since the beginning of the current administration.
Odumakin said the service chiefs were already in their retirement years, and wondered why they were still being kept in service by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the decision to keep them in service had killed morale in the Armed Forces, as three sets of officers had had their careers stagnated.
“The sack of the service Chiefs should be followed with a probe of what has happened to defence allocations as we, as a people, cannot reconcile our extremely vulnerable troops and wailing soldiers in the forest with the heavy spending the government claimed it has committed to security,” he said.
Afenifere noted that the massacre of the soldiers deployed to the north-east region to counter terrorism raises more concerns about the state of the Armed Forces and its combat readiness.
According to the group, despite the $1bn that the Federal Government claimed it disbursed few months ago to equip the military, Boko Haram still attacks soldiers freely.
It decried the consistent media propaganda being deployed by the Federal Government in the war against the insurgency and the insensitivity to the plight of soldiers on the battlefield.
“First, it kept quiet for six days after the incident and when it found its voice, there were no soothing words for the bereaved families,” the group said.
“It had hardly made the bland statements before descending into the gutter of political quarrelling over the killings at a time a more sensitive leadership should have declared national mourning for the high casualties recorded which many countries never matched in wars that lasted for several years.
“Our hearts go to all bereaved families and officers and men of our armed forces at this grievous moment. It is our prayer that God will comfort them and intervene in the affairs of our country and give us a leadership that is more than equal to the challenges we face.”
