Buhari ’ll lead military to fight B’Haram – Osinbajo

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)
will lead the military to the North-East to fight the
Boko Haram insurgents if voted into power on
February 14, his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
(SAN), said on Monday.
Osinbajo expressed concern over deepening
insecurity in the country and accused President
Goodluck Jonathan of reneging on his promise to
protect Nigerians.
Fielding questions from a group of youths at a
town hall meeting in Abuja, the APC vice
presidential candidate said Buhari as President and
Commander-In-Chief would lead by example.
The town hall meeting held under the aegis of Act
Now Professionals.
Osinbajo told the gathering how the Buhari-led
government would end insurgency in the country,
especially in the North-East states of Borno, Yobe
and Adamawa.
He also explained how the APC-led government
would rescue the over 200 female students of
Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno
State, seized since April 14 2014; equip the
military and give the country a sense of protection.
Osinbajo said, “The first priority is security and to
question what has gone wrong in the military.
Then, funding the military adequately and ensuring
that the Commander-In-Chief leads from the front.
But when he was Commander-In-Chief, Buhari led
from the front as a soldier. You cannot lead from
the rear. You cannot fail to go to where the
insurgency is taking place and that is what Buhari
has been saying.
“I think that the major problem with the question of
security is again that it was not prioritised by this
government. It was not taken seriously enough
from the beginning. When you have a situation, you
do not politicise the insurgency like that. You do
not point to the opposition and say it is the
opposition that is sponsoring it until General
Buhari almost lost his life when Boko Haram
attacked him.
“We must start by understanding that there is a
war going on in that part of the country and what
the government need to do is to get the nation
behind it, not pointing accusing fingers at wrong
places.
“We need to look at the whole question of funding
and equipping the military. The military at the
moment is not equipped. I worked with Femi
Falana on the mutiny of some solders and what is
the complaint of those soldiers who were charged
with mutiny? Their complaint is that they were not
given equipment and they wanted them to go to
battle. So, how do you say that? How does
anybody think that you can fight the insurgents
without ammunitions?”
The APC vice presidential candidate said that there
would be no hiding place for perpetrators of graft
as the country’s laws that forbid looting of public
treasury would be activated.
According to him, the APC will run a transparent
government where public officials would be
accountable to the people.
Osinbajo said creation of jobs for the country’s
youths remained on top of the agenda of the APC if
elected into office.
“Jobs and creation of employment opportunities
have been major issues in the manifesto of the
APC,” he told the audience.
He re-echoed the party’s earlier promise that the
Buhari-led government would place jobless and
poor Nigerians on monthly stipends of N5,000 and
N7,000 respectively.
“The idea is to take 2.5 million people out of
poverty every year. We will give free healthcare to
children. We will follow the example of Osun State
where such has been done successfully,” he said.