A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has saluted the courage of men and women of the Armed Forces as well as other security personnel.
Olawepo-Hashim in a statement on Saturday explained that for those sacrifices not to be in vain, it was time the nation constructed a new defence and security architecture to permanently destroy the seed of terror and uproot banditry, kidnapping across the country.
This is just as he enjoined the Federal Government to take note of the alarm raised by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state on the threat posed by ISWAP fighters in the state.
Zulum had warned that allowing the terrorist group to grow would spell doom for the country.
“With all manners of armed groups within two hours drive to Abuja, (the nation’s seat of power), from Niger and Kaduna, no one should downplay this threat,” he warned.
Zulum’s warning is coming a day after the Federal Government said it uncovered 96 financiers of Boko Haram and ISWAP, adding that at least 123 companies and 33 bureaux de change were also linked to the terrorists.
Olawepo-Hashim, therefore, maintained that Zulum’s warning is timely and that the war in the North-East and the insurgency in the North-West required a new defence and security template and perspective.
According to him, “if between 2015 and now, the government has allocated approximately N5.081tn for defence, including the appropriation of N4.669tn to the Federal Ministry of Defence from 2016 to date and $1bn for the purchase of military equipment, the template on the fight on terror requires political responses that must tackle the underlining causes of the threats.
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