Stop Blame Game, End Insurgency, Banditry, Military Writers Tell Monguno

The Military Writers Society of Nigeria (MWSN) has slammed the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno for not adopting right strategies to end insurgency and other criminal bandits attacks in the country, urging him to sit up.

This was expressed at a press conference in Abuja on Monday June 22, 2020, by Dr. Abubakar Mohammed, Chairman, MWSN.

“We believe that the NSA has not justified the confidence put on him by President Muhammadu Buhari. Instead, he is disgracing the revered Buhari who trusted him by his lack of innovation, esprit de corps, and proactiveness. President Buhari has done everything humanly possible to end the insurgency in the Northeast region by appointing people of the region as heads of all the sensitive and critical security agencies.

“Now it is time to actively get involved and stop this empty charade called blame-game and ego-clash. The NSA must liaise and synergize with the military leadership to end this bloodbath. He must keep his ego aside!

“He said it was the late Abba Kyari that constituted a stumbling block for him not to smoothly operate as NSA. God has vindicated the innocent and misrepresented but dedicated aide of President Buhari. May Allah forgive him for his shortcomings.

“Barely two months after his demise, see what has happened to national security while the NSA remained docile, unapproachable, and clueless. If the NSA wants to be remembered like NSA Gambo Jimeta,Aliyu Gusau, Sarki Muktar and even Andrew Azazi, he must do more than mere press conferences. Action time.

“Let’s see big-time collaborators, financiers and coordinators busted and arrested. This is not the work of the military or the Army but the ONSA, DSS, NIA, and the Police,” the group said.

According to the text of the address titled: “The NSA Must Sit-up and Be Proactive or Resign” the group) said that it is saddened because of the heinous attacks carried out by criminals who identify themselves as jihadists, insurgents, and bandits.

“We hereby use this opportunity to condole all those who lost their loved ones in the mayhem that occurred in both Borno and Katsina states last week.

“We in MWSN recognize the fact that all those who were murdered have the inalienable rights to life and liberty, and these rights are to be enforced by the government.

“Despite the setbacks that occurred last week in the theatre of operations and some parts of Katsina State, we firmly believe that the military especially the Nigerian Army deserves commendation and not condemnations because of the successes it has recorded in the last three months when the Army leadership relocated to Borno to take charge of the operation.

“We are convinced that the military has decimated a considerable number of the top commanders and foot soldiers of Boko Haram insurgents because of the proofs shown to us and the general public,” the group said.

They commended the military for huge sacrifices made so far.

“Therefore, we are using this medium to commend the military for being proactive in their response to the myriads of security challenges bedeviling Nigeria even though we know very well that military solution alone cannot guarantee peace.

“This is because the security challenges confronting Nigeria emanated because of a cacophony of accumulated factors ranging from ignorance, unemployment, injustice, misgovernance,under-policing,under-funding of the military, and poor intelligence gathering.

“It is against this backdrop that we are reacting to the recent vituperative tirade made by the National Security Advisor (NSA) where he made a veiled accusation of underperformance against the Service Chiefs,” they said.

The group recalled that, “NSA Munguno came out last week to use semantics to make a veiled attack on Service Chiefs especially the Nigerian Arm

“While it is true that no man is indispensable in this life, we believe that this is not the time to talk about the sack of Service Chiefs. In anycase the Revised Armed Forces of Nigeria’s Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service 2017 (HTACOS) empowers the president to extend the tenure of the security chiefs, irrespective of age or length of service.

“Part 1 of the HTACOS, Section 11.09 of the document states that “the foregoing notwithstanding, the President/C-in-C reserves the prerogative to extend the tenure of a CDS/Service Chief irrespective of his age or length of service.”

“God will surely grant victory to Nigeria,” the group concluded.