President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly have been jointly tasked by a democracy inclined Non Governmental Organization, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, to immediately commence the process of dismissing both Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, for endangering national security through successive cocktails of spectacular derelictions of duties in defence and electoral sectors.
Conversely, the Rights group has showered encomiums on the holder of the office of the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, for his efforts in developing a wide range of counter insurgency mechanisms and extensive de-radicalisation models.
Besides, the group commended Dasuki for successfully organising, with the support of President Jonathan, series of constructive and meaningful conferences and lectures around the thematic issues of media relations with the military services.
HURIWA has therefore called on the National Defence Council, headed by President Jonathan, to authorise the post retirement promotion of the National Security Adviser to the rank of a full General, with all the post retirement benefits therein.
HURIWA said in the spirit of the well thought out principle of reward and punishment, which this government has practiced, it will be good if an officer like Dasuki that has done so much spade work intellectually and pragmatically to bring to a lasting end the threats of terrorism and violent insurgencies through series of routine training and retraining of the mindsets of youthful Nigerians, is rewarded for this uncommon achievements.
The Rights group also urged the office of the National Security Adviser to liaise with the National Universities Commission to formulate and introduce peace building lessons as compulsory courses in 100 post secondary educational curriculum.
In a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said the abysmal failure of the Badeh to put in place effective and fool-proof mechanisms for the efficient and decisive defeat of the armed terrorists and the way and manner he has publicly made controversial speeches over alleged peace accord with the terrorists, which have painted Nigeria graphically in terribly bad image before the comity of nations, demonstrate his inability to continue to hold such a high office.
HURIWAS said: “Mr President may do well to select another competent and reticent top flight combat ready Military General to replace him unless and except we are unwilling to win this war once and all.
“How on Earth will the Defence Chief dabble into the political arena of announcing a cease fire with murderous terrorists when all loose ends were yet to be tightened even though the President of Chad is reported to have brokered the truce which is now a ruse? Indeed, what is the job of the chief of Defence Staff and why has this particular holder of this high office made spectacular media blunders through series of incoherent and inconsistent public announcements concerning the current terrorism attacks that have eventually turned out to be unrealistic? First, this Chief of Defence Staff told Nigerians that his fighters knew where the 250 abducted girls were kept by the armed terrorists but that the armed forces were avoiding having high collateral damage but till date for over three months since making that sensational statement in the media there hasn’t been any positive trace of these kidnapped Chibok school girls but rather the so- called leader of these terrorists have jeered at us severally claiming that these school girls have all been married off? The Nigerian military which he heads claimed to have killed Abubakar Shekau but why hasn’t it provided unassailable scientific proof through a DNA test which Nigeria can conduct so as to put the doubting Thomas’s to shame and flight? Again, this Chief of Defence Staff told us that Nigeria will soon take delivery of state of the art defence hardware to wage successful counter terrorism battles to crush these terrorists but two months after he made this reassuring public speech, the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States contradicted him and painted a graphic picture of a nation that does not have any believable plan of good enough strategies of acquiring state of the art military combat hardware. How many more blunders will this defence Chief be allowed to commit and put Nigeria to global opprobrium before he is made to bow out and stop further disgrace of Nigeria?”
On the official misdemeanours of Jega, which HURIWA said also constitute grave threats to national security if not well handled, the Rights group said his now botched sinister plot to unilaterally create additional polling units to the advantage of a section of the country and the litany of errors committed in the registration of voters and the issuance of the so-called permanent voters cards must be sufficiently addressed to avoid popular discontents and uprising by millions of Nigerians who have now been denied of their fundamental constitutional rights to vote in next year’s election.
The Rights group also said the current hierarchy of the electoral panel has yet to remit to the national coffers huge amount of money – N10 billion – said to have been spent for contractors to print ballot papers for the National Assembly election in 2011, which was not delivered.
HURIWA added: “The INEC chief must be removed now to save Nigeria from the coming conflagration that may result from the wilful disenfranchisement of millions of voters by this incompetent management in INEC.”