By Ishola Balogun
National Chairman, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa, criticised the invitation of United States and British forces to assist in securing the release of the school girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorist group some weeks ago, saying: “the invitation of foreign forces is completely unnecessary, it is dangerous and unpatriotic.” . Excerpts:

Four weeks after about 200 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram, what do you think government has failed to do in securing the release of the girls?

This is unfortunate , I sympathize with the parents of the schoolgirls. It can happen to anybody in this country because no one is safe. The government is not capable of dealing with the situation and also not capable of knowing the truth about the situation.

*Musa

For all these lapses, it is the President that should be held responsible because he was elected to represent the interest of Nigerians. Secondly, he is the Chief Security Officer of the country; thirdly, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and lastly, he as the executive President is in control of all the resources of the country. If such a thing happens, it is pointless blaming anybody other the president.

How can you blame the security services or the Armed forces since they were appointed by the President and they are answerable to him? The recent incident proved the supreme power of the president. Immediately the new Minister of Defence was appointed and he called all the Service Officers for a meeting but they refused saying they take orders only from the President.

Will the presence of international forces secure the release of the girls?

It is a very dangerous development. The security situation as it is today is not beyond the federal government to solve, it has not reached a stage which the federal government cannot solve. Even in a civil war, government can still bring it under control. So, the invitation of foreign forces is completely unnecessary, it is dangerous and unpatriotic.

We should learn from experiences in Pakistan, Somalia, Syria where international security forces were invited and even made the matterworse. Why are we inviting them to solve the problem of Nigeria? Former colonial masters of Nigeria had already predicted that Nigeria will break up in 2015, are we now calling them to come and concretize their prediction.

Our military forces have successfully quelled crises in some African counties. Why have they not been able to stem the tide of terrorism in their own country?

It is basically because of the incompetence of federal government and probably the conspiracy by some elements to bring about destabilization and disintegration of the country.

Recent attack in Gambura in Ngwoza after the abduction of schoolgirls which has attracted global condemnation shows that this Boko Haram may not be an easy nut to crack for the federal government hence the decision to invite foreign powers.

There is a lot of cover up, we are now talking on insecurity based on the activities of Boko Haram, but that is not the only security aspect of Nigeria. Apart from Boko Haram, there are the Fulani herdsmen and farmer crisis which is wreaking more havoc than the Boko Haram, the people who live around these affected areas know this; and apart from these serial bombing of Boko Haram, the herdsmen/farmers’ crisis is a big one.

So, there are three aspects of security challenges in the country. Again, Niger Delta Militants are still not satisfied; we also have the Biafra Movement,so we have three insurgent activities. Apart from the Boko Haram and their serial bombing, we are faced with other two — Niger Delta militants and the Biafra Movement.

This means the whole country is immersed in insurgency and yet we cannot deal with it because of the incompetence of the federal government and probably its involvement in insurgency for political reasons.

Except somebody wants to convince me that all the three are still Boko Haram. The objective of the three is nothing but to destabilize Nigeria using the 2015 election and also areas where they know will affect the whole country.

For instance, crisis is more in the north because everybody knows that if you want to destabilize Nigeria, you start from the north as a result of the number and so many other factors.