Pascal Oparada
A former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has asked the Federal Government to recall veterans and ex-servicemen to confront the war on terror in Nigeria.
In a message posted on his social media accounts, the former vice president said the men and women in the military, who restored peace in Liberia, Sierra Leone and other parts of Africa should be recalled, equipped and mobilised to fight insurgency and insecurity in Nigeria.
The post read, “The security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating rapidly and ordinary Nigerians are living in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
“Nowhere seems to be safe. Farms, markets, schools, homes, mosques, churches, and urban areas are all affected.
“Terrorists are spreading their areas of operation beyond the Northeast, into far flung areas as far as Niger State in the North-Central. That is merely hours from our Federal Capital.
“Now is the time for decisive leadership and I call on the Federal Government to consider recalling all ex-servicemen and women, who are willing to return to service, and take the fight to the insurgents until they are rolled back and defeated,” he said.
Atiku asked that the Federal Government provide enough incentive for the veterans to want to return to the battlefield.
“The men and women of Nigeria’s armed forces, whether serving or retired, who restored peace to Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Príncipe can, and should be used to do the same in the motherland,” he said.
A situation where terrorists and criminals are better armed than our troops on the battlefront is intolerable, Atiku said as he asked Federal Mortgage Bank and other financial institutions to work together to help the veterans own a home of their own.
“We need to urgently improve the conditions of service of the men and women of our armed forces. And not just the government.
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, working in concert with primary mortgage institutions, ought to offer the men and women of our armed forces special concessionary mortgage loans so they can own homes,” he said.
