Visit Chibok, Buni Yadi, APC tells Jonathan

The All Progressives Congress has congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan for being courageous to visit Maiduguri to encourage the soldiers fighting the Boko Haram insurgency.

The party said the President has more trips to make to Chibok, Buni Yadi and Potiskum, among others.

This was contained in a statement issued in Makurdi on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.

According to the party, the President should follow up his visit to the epicentre of the Boko Haram battle with visits to the parents of the 219 abducted Chibok girls as well as the families of the boys who were killed at the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi, Yobe State, last year.

This, the APC said, was required to enable the President refute reports that his Thursday’s visit to Maiduguri was politically motivated with a view to laying foundation for his planned campaign to Maiduguri on January 21, 2015.

The statement read, “We have always said the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces should never be afraid to visit anywhere in the country.

“We have always said the President should not just be the Commander-in-Chief but also the Consoler-in-Chief. We are glad that the President has finally agreed with us.

“But it is necessary to remind the President that he must not play politics with human lives, and that he must stop putting Jonathan first, Jonathan second and Jonathan third, at the expense of the nation.”

The APC, however, asked the President to address the issue of the low morale of the soldiers fighting the insurgency and their lack of necessary equipment.

The party said, “It is instructive that a few hours after President Jonathan visited Maiduguri, the global news channel CNN aired an interview with some Nigerian soldiers who complained of very low morale among the rank and file, lack of fighting equipment and very poor welfare.

“This does no credit to an administration that has allocated billions of naira to the defence and security sector, billions that apparently did not percolate to those at the front line of the battle.

“It calls to question the usage to which the government has put the huge funds allocated to the sector, including the $1bn loan that was recently approved by the National Assembly.”