PRESIDENT-elect General Muhammadu Buhari has expressed disappointment at the fact that the Nigerian military had to resort to the use of South African mercenaries in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists.
Over the last two years, Boko Haram has run riot across northeast Nigeria, capturing 14 local government areas and regularly overrunning the military, who have fled in their wake. Desperate to contain the situation, the Nigerian government had to sign a regional pact with neighbours Cameroon, Niger Republic and Chad as well as hire white South African mercenaries.
This new approach has delivered significant results with Boko Haram confined to just one local government area in Borno State, with most of its camps overran. However, General Buhari has expressed dismay at the price Nigeria had to pay for the victory, saying he wondered why the military could not secure the country without the assistance of South African mercenaries.
According to General Buhari, Nigerian soldiers needed not wait for South Africans before confronting Boko Haram insurgents and winning the war. Speaking in Kaduna while hosting the national executive council of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, he added that it was unfortunate that the Nigerian military is now so degraded.
General Buhari said: “The military has never been so incapacitated like now. It is a shame that the military cannot secure 14 out of the 774 local governments in the country.
“What is more worrisome is the fact that Nigeria’s military has to rely on South African mercenaries before it could gain recent success in the war against Boko Haram. This situation is shameful and unacceptable."
He added that his administration will concentrate on three major areas on assumption of office, which will be insecurity, the economy/unemployment and corruption. General Buhari said his government would make sure that every Nigerian lived within their means or earnings, adding that a situation where people live above their earnings will not be tolerated.
ACF chairman, retired inspector-general of police Ibrahim Coomassie told General Buhari that Nigerians voted for him because they believed in his integrity, knack for transparency, accountability, honesty and commitment to security of lives and property. He stated that Nigeria had never experienced the level of decay, collapse of moral values, the high level of corruption, crime, unemployment and impoverishment of the citizenry like it has over the last six years.
