Reps hail Buhari over appointment of service chiefs

CHRIS EMETOH, Abuja

In reaction to the mix feelings trailing the appointment of new service chiefs, members of the House of Representatives from across the political parties have described the move by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday as step in the right direction and a normal routine in any country where there is a change in leadership.
Speaking with Hallmark at the National Assembly yesterday, the lawmakers expressed concern that most Nigerians have been considering President Buhari’s decision to relieve the former service chiefs of their duties as a vindictive act.

Hon Yusuf Buba Yakubu representing Gombi/Hong Federal Constituency of Adamawa State, said that the appointments was a display of maturity on the part of the President who most people have wished away as inactive, stressing that although Buhari took his time to study the terrain and get information on what he wanted done, appointment of the new service chiefs showed ‘age at work’. Although some Nigerians have stated that Buhari is being tribal by appointing mostly northerners from the Hausa/Fulani enclave into his government, Hon Yakubu excused him as “trying to use the people of the North East who know the terrain to curb insurgency in the country.”

 
Although he said that expectation is on the high side for the service chiefs to perform and nip insurgency in the bud as Nigerians want immediate result, he commended former service chiefs for their efforts in the fight, but also noted that the effort was though not good enough. Yakubu urged the new chiefs to build on it so that they can achieve better results.
“Everybody tried their best including the immediate past service chiefs but their best was not good enough, so the new people will build on it so that we can get better result,” he said.
He also described terrorism as an act of cowardice which is why incidence of suicide bombing has been on increase lately, noting that it was wrong for anyone to attribute the resurgence in the bombing activities of the Boko Haram to President Buhari’s administration. “Suicide bombing is on the increase because Boko Haram is being overpowered so they resorted to guerilla warfare”.
Hon Nkole Uko Ndukwe (Arochukwu/Ohafia) Federal Constituency, described the appointment of the service chiefs as a step in the right direction, but urged them to live up to their responsibilities and do more of intelligence gathering than basing their operations on reactions. “I believe that intelligence gathering should form the nucleus of their operational basis, most of what they do in the security services especially in the fight against insurgency is like reactionary, they should be more proactive”, he advised.

 
He also observed that the President has however concentrated his appointments so far on men that he believes will be accountable to him. Similarly Hon Ndukwe encouraged the government to come up with templates that will guide the national assembly in making laws that will enable proper and adequate funding for the acquisition of modern security gadgets and equipments for all the security agencies, just as he advised that Nigeria’s porous borders should be sealed or manned properly to guide the influx of immigrants.

 
He noted that most members of Boko Haram are basically not Nigerians. In a related development, the lawmaker expressed concern as well on the transfer of 47 Boko Haram prisoners to Aguata prison in Anambra State. He described the move as a calculated attempt by the administration to spread a contagious problem to the South East of the country rather than finding solutions on how to contend the spread.
Also on the appointment of the service chiefs, Hon Taiwo Michael Akintola (Egbeda Federal Constituency, Oyo State, said that Buhari’s action became necessary in this era of change, adding that several things need to be changed.
“The action of President Buhari is one in the right direction; it’s an action to move Nigeria forward, especially in terms of security. The new service chiefs are men of caliber and know what Nigerians want. They should ensure that the rank and file of the military is beaten back into shape, they should right the wrongs that have been in the military, especially reversing the court marshaling of soldiers for raising their voices to protest illegality. They should employ every tactics they know to put an end to insurgency and return peace to the country,” Akintola said.