The All Progressives Congress, APC, has strongly criticised the Boko Haram sect allegedly responsible for the recent deadly attacks in Abuja and Bauchi State, which killed at least 37 people and injured many more, saying nothing can justify the spilling of the blood of innocent citizens.
The national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, described the group as “despicable and inhuman” in its terror campaign and called on the federal government to review its strategy for the fight against terrorism, adding that “whatever is being done now is definitely not working, hence the deadly terrorist attacks have almost become a daily affair”.
The party blamed the federal government for the continuous attacks in different parts of the country, contending that rather than reaching out across partisan lines as suggested by the opposition on several occasions, it had resorted to chasing shadows while the killing of innocent citizens intensifies.
The APC said it was surprising that Abuja, which is Nigeria’s federal capital, has remained vulnerable to attacks, despite the millions of naira spent to install closed-circuit television, CCTV cameras in the city as part of measures to tackle terrorism.
“The scorecard of this Federal Government in the fight against terror is very dismal. Some 76 days after over 200 girls were abducted from Chibok, the girls are not any nearer home today than they were on the day they were abducted, and all the clueless and ineffective administration of President Jonathan can do is to engage in image laundering that has caused the taxpayers US$1.2 million; witch-hunt the media as well as those perceived to be opponents of the Administration and engage in a continuous and unprecedented abuse of national institutions,” it noted.
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Such an amount, it said, should have been pumped into the fight against terror, which it said seemed to have waned.
The party also described the treatment meted out to pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj from the Maiduguri airport as another in a series of shadow -chasing by the government.
It said forcing the pilgrims to travel by road from Maiduguri to Kano to be airlifted is callous and poorly-thought-out, considering the dangers they are likely to face on the road.
“The argument that the airlifting from Maiduguri was stopped at the last minute because of security is hogwash. Is that also the same reason that a private plane that flew into the same airport with eight people on board was forced to fly back empty after those who wanted to travel in it were prevented from doing so? Is it the same security reason that forced the closure of Akure airport even as planes that ferried APC leaders to the airport were on the tarmac? Is it also why newspapers were targeted across the nation?” the APC queried.
The APC advised the federal government to stop wasting public funds on image laundering and admit its limitations and then reach out to all stakeholders, including those in the opposition, to review its anti-terror strategy.