Military mismanaged Buhari’s proposed visit to Sambisa Forest – MURIC

The Muslim Rights Concern has said the military mismanaged the proposed visit of President Muhammadu Buhari, which it announced last week.
The even for which the President was to visit Sambisa Forest, the Nigerian Army Small Arms Championship, was held on Monday, with the Minister of Defense, Brigadier General Mansur Dan-Ali, representing him.
But MURIC, in a statement signed by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said considering all that was attached to the visit, especially the fact that it was going to be the first visit to the area by the President and with the area still largely insecure, it should have been better handled.
The statement reads: “The Nigerian Army last week disclosed the proposed visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Sambisa forest, Borno State. During the visit which was billed to take place on Monday, 27th March, 2017, the president was expected to declare open this year’s Nigerian Army Small Arms Championship.
“Although the event has since been held and the president was represented by a high-ranking Nigerian official, the Muslim Rights Concern berates the way and manner the Nigerian Army made the president’s movement public ahead of the time in a zone that is yet to become completely secure. That publicity blitz on the president’s proposed visit to Sambisa was, to say the least, naive, infantile and ill-advised.
“While it is true that presidents of countries who dispatched soldiers to war zones usually visit such dangerous places as the Commader-in-Chief of the army, such visits are usually clandestine for obvious reasons. This explains why US President Lincoln’s visit to Antietam on October 3, 1862 was unannounced. The same Lincoln was protected by more than 100 US soldiers when he paid another surprise visit to Richmond on April 4, 1865.
“Neither British nor American authorities announced Winston Churchill’s rendezvous with Franklin Roosevelt in Casablanca during World War II in January 1943. On Sunday, 25th May 2014, former US President Barrack Obama slipped into Afghanistan under cover of darkness.
“So why should Buhari’s visit to Sambisa be different? This is a notorious Boko Haram stronghold that was held in awe for years. We cannot afford to underestimate the enemy. Although Boko Haram has been defeated, bombs are still exploding in Borno State. Villages are still being attacked. Innocent people are still being killed. That shows how desperate the insurgents are. We should not play into their hands, at least not with the life of the president.
“MURIC therefore pleads that future movements of President Muhammadu Buhari and that of senior government officials around Borno State should be shrouded in secrecy until the remnants of insurgency have been totally eliminated.”