A leading civil rights advocacy platform, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has thrown its weight behind the efforts being made by the Nigerian Army to defeat terrorists and set Nigeria on the path of safety and territorial integrity
In a statement signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA solicited what it calls undiluted collective solidarity from Nigerians all across the world so that the Nigerian army can come out victorious.
HURIWA stated that the leadership of Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has demonstrated the finest patriotic zeal and determination to inflict mortal pain on the terrorists and to restore lasting stability and security in the Northeast of Nigeria.
“Honestly speaking, the counter-terror battles can never be won when the elite begin to do exactly what these terrorists want to achieve by engaging in frantic media warfare targeted at demonizing the patriotic fighting operatives of the Army and demotivating their fighting spirit of the Nigerian Army ably commanded by the Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai,” the group said.
“What we need to do now is to provide all the necessary logistical and citizens-led support we can muster so the war on terror is concluded on time and for lasting peace to be restored. As leaders in the organized civil rights community, we appeal to Nigerians not to despair but to hope for the best and support our hard fighting Army.
“We have over the past three or four years monitored the Army and we can only say that they are doing their best within the available logistical and funding support and the appropriations passed by the National Assembly and released by the relevant agencies within the ministries of Defence and Finance.
“Indeed the Army under the current leadership has demonstrated financial probity; high standards of accountability and transparency.
“What we need to do is to urge the government of Nigeria and the international community to provide adequate funding and technical support so the war on terror is brought to a logical conclusion.
“The chief of Army staff as someone from Borno state has shown great leadership example by physically leading the war on terror from the theatre of warfare and has to the best of his knowledge provided the needed support to his brave fighters.
“We must realize that the war on terror is not a tea party. The world’s superpowers are still battling terrorists in Afghanistan for over ten years. Nigeria’s Army needs support not sabotage. We need to support our men/women and brave military to achieve success in record time please,” the group said.
HURIWA said it welcomes Buratai’s statement that Boko Haram cannot be defeated easily because of the indoctrination they received 10 to 40 years ago, adding “we have read that the Army chief said the group now has a wide number of recruiters, logistics suppliers and propagandist living within the civilian population.”
HURIWA said as leaders in the civil society community they believe Buratai’s statements to be of facts and not just propaganda, adding that anyone vast with the undercurrents of the Boko haram insurgency would know that as a sect it started way back before manifesting as a monstrous threat.
It noted that the group started terrorizing Nigeria since ten years ago when their ideological leader Mohammed Yusuf was arrested by the Army and handed over to the Nigerian police force “which later killed him in detention thus sparking off the TERRORISM that has being unleashed on a large scale against Nigerians.”
The Onwubiko-led group said it views what Buratai said as a fact that Insurgency is not what can be defeated but would just fizzle out.
HURIWA said as the Army Chief had stated: “it believes too that the terrorists will promote propaganda, to the effect that all the institutions of government would be seen to be ineffective, adding that the terrorists are already doing this.”
The group noted that the insurgents were now exploiting the fault lines in Nigeria’s economic and political endeavors to expand the gulf of so-called discord and acrimony amongst various ethnic and religious groups.
“Unfortunately, they murder those individuals and send them to the world. And we conclude that these are propaganda strategies of the terrorists. These individuals like the Army Chief of Staff restated may be living with you and you would not know they are terrorists. They have a series of informants and logistics suppliers,” HURWA added.
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