26th November, 2018
PRESS RELEASE:
MURIC DEMANDS PROBE OF BOKO HARAM METELE
FIASCO
Boko Haram terrorists on Monday, 19th
November, 2018, overran the 157 Task Force Battalion at Metele Village in
Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno State. About seventy Nigerian soldiers allegedly
lost their lives during the encounter. The high death toll has already caught
the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari who summoned top brass in the
Nigerian military command to review the situation..
Reacting to the high death toll on
the soldiers’ side, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) expressed consternation,
dismay and shock. MURIC’s reaction was contained in a press statement released
on Monday, 26th November, 2018. The statement was signed by the
group’s director and founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
“This
is audacious, benumbing and preposterous. We are nonplussed. This is a national
tragedy of no little proportion. We join millions of other patriotic Nigerians
to mourn these fallen heroes. Our hearts go to those gallant soldiers who paid
the supreme sacrifice for their country in active service. We ask Nigerians to
pray for them and their families. We also implore our religious leaders to
organize special prayers for total victory over the insurgents.
“But we must not spend all the time
on our mats and knees praying. We must, in the spirit of ora et labora,
work more and pray less because it is our handiwork that Allah will crown with
glory. Allah himself confirmed this position when He said, ‘Tell them to work
and Allah will see (i.e. He will reward you for) your work…’ (Glorious Qur’an
9:105).
“The
question that arises here is how much work did we do? How well did we prepare
for the insurgents? There are allegations that neglect and sabotage caused the
Metele fiasco. Soldiers in that axis reportedly complained of poor weaponry but
nothing was done about it.
“We
are therefore demanding a probe of events which led to the overrunning of
Metele and the merciless killing of Nigerian soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents.
“MURIC recalls a similar situation
in 2014 when 54 Nigerian soldiers complained to their commander that their
weapons were too poor to confront better equipped Boko Haram fighters. They had
earlier lost 23 men and four officers due to poor equipment when they advanced
on Damboa on 9th July, 2014. This made them to demand better
supplies but they were rounded up instead. They were consequently tried and
sentenced to death but this was later commuted to ten years imprisonment. They
are still in jail as we speak.
“What
kind of people are we? Why must those who work for us suffer unnecessary
hardship on account of the services they render? Why must soldiers who are
defending our territorial integrity be punished unjustly? Those 54 soldiers
would have been slaughtered like rams in 2014 if they had not raised objection
and refused an illegal order. Their refusal to march on insurgents with bare
hands created the awareness of the existence of massive fraud in the army. Why
must they still be in jail today? MURIC therefore calls for presidential pardon
for the 54 soldiers. They should be treated as whistle-blowers and heroes for
exposing graft”.
MURIC also descended
on Western powers for delaying the supply of sophisticated weapons to Nigeria
and for playing tortuous politics with the issue. “We are bemused that strange
conditionalities are pushed forward each time the issue of supplying better
weapons to Nigeria in its fight against terrorism is raised before Western
countries. They raise baseless issues of human rights and tie remote incidents
to the supply. Those countries are not behaving like friends at all.
“But what moral right do we have to blame outsiders when
Nigerian lawmakers are the country’s worst enemies? They have never displayed
any unity of purpose when the presidency requests funds to purchase
sophisticated weapons. We recall the National Assembly’s strong objection and
procrastination when President Muhammadu Buhari asked for $1 billion for more
arms in February 2018. It is paradoxical that the same unpatriotic elements are
now blaming the presidency for the Metele tragedy.
“We urge Nigerians to
open their eyes. We must never surrender the national mandate to shenanigans,
egocentric and unpatriotic politicians in 2019. Never again, never again must
we allow those who supervised the debilitation and emaciation of Nigerian
troops to occupy the seat of power. They diverted huge amounts of money meant
for arms for our soldiers to the extent that our soldiers started running each
time they saw Boko Haram fighters. It is a shame that some of the drammatis
personae can still blame the current administration for what happened at
Metele. It is also a manifestation of gross insensitivity for anyone to
politicize the disaster.
“This is food for
thought for the Nigerian civil society. We are particularly miffed by the
silence of powerful groups like the Nigerian Labour Congress on the moral
debauchery, open blackmail and daylight robbery of our common patrimony going
on in the NASS. The latter armtwisted the executive in virtually every aspect
of administration yet nobody spoke out. Revelations were made about their
illegal and atrocious salaries and unlawful emoluments. Nobody did as much as
whisper.
“NASS delayed the 2018
budget for seven months and nobody did as much as whimper. The same NASS cut
allocations to vital areas in the budget and added the deductions to its own in
brazen exploitation and legislative rascality. Yet the same NLC ignored this
and went on strike to put additional pressure on an overstressed
administration. Silence is not golden in moments like these.
“Nonetheless, Metele
or no Metele, we assert clearly, emphatically and unequivocally that Boko Haram
remains technically defeated. A group of terrorists who once occupied 17 local
governments, terrorized three North Eastern states (Adamawa, Borno and Yobe)
and extended its tentacle of bombing terror to Kano and Abuja has been reduced
to a shadow of itself. It is now restricted to acts of cowardice, hiding behind
little girls who play the role of suicide bombers, engaging in seasonal
guerilla warfare and disguising as friendly soldiers to gain access into the
camps of gallant Nigerian soldiers”.
MURIC also sent a
strong message to Nigerian soldiers fighting Boko Haram in the North East.
“To our gallant soldiers, both officers and other ranks,
we salute you all. You have done well and many of you deserve medals. We are
proud of you. We know all about your sacrifices for the sake of our dear
country. You are on sentry all night so that we can sleep peacefully. You face
hardship so that Nigeria may remain one indivisible entity. Boko Haram would
have taken Abuja but for your gallantry.
“You are our heroes. We are with you in your advance on
the enemy. We assure you that you are not alone. We share your pains. Your
victories gladden our hearts. We are with you in the trenches. Come rain, come
shine, we will never abandon you. We are on our prayer mats in the mosques and
on our knees in the churches as you battle the enemy. We charge you to forge
forward. To flush out Boko Haram is a task that must be done.
“As we round off, we
charge the Federal Government to quickly institute a probe of the Metele
fiasco. We plead for presidential prerogative of mercy for the 54 soldiers. We
call on Nigerians to treat those responsible for diverting arms money to their
personal pockets like political lepers in 2019. They should not touch them with
a long pole”.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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