The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the National Assembly to open an inquest into the shocking report by the Wall Street Journal, asserting the secret burial of 1,000 Nigerian soldiers, allegedly killed in the anti-insurgency war in the Northeast.
The party said that the National Assembly should respond to the apprehensions of Nigerians by immediately setting up a special security committee to conduct a forensic investigation into the truth or otherwise of the report, with the tenor and mode as prescribed for security issues in the 1999 Constitution (as Amended.)
In a statement on Friday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said its demand was predicated on what it described as the brazen attempt by the Buhari presidency to politicize such huge security issue and making uncomplimentary allusions to the plight of the troops.
The main opposition party described the various press statements issued by presidential spokespersons on the matter as unpatriotic and insensitive.
The PDP further stated that it is unfortunate that at a time when patriotic Nigerians are distressed about the wellbeing of the gallant soldiers and seeking for solutions to the challenges they face in the front, the Buhari Presidency is rather issuing press statements.
The party was particularly miffed by one of such statements released on Friday, August 2, 2019, wherein it leveraged on the plight of the soldiers to boast on how to retain President Buhari’s mandate.
The statement said, “Instead of showing concern over the fate of our troops, taking concrete steps on the issue at stake and reassuring an anxious nation, the Buhari Presidency is rather seeking to draw political capital from our security challenges by flaunting a despicable self-confidence on the Presidential election petition pending in the Court of Appeal, and how, in its own words, “the judiciary would always come to conclusions”.
“It is imperative to state that such comments send very wrong signal against our judiciary and we urge the judiciary arm to insulate herself from the nocturnal shenenanigans of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the cabal at the Presidency, which have gone into frenzy following the apparent collapse of their defence at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
“While the Buhari Presidency, has with its latest stance on such grave security issue, further exhibited that it has come short of appropriate solutions to the security challenges facing our nation, the PDP states that waving off of such without the least effort to unravel the issues and reassure Nigerians, shows total failure of leadership”
The PDP accused President Buhari of failing to demonstrate that he has the capacity and commitment to ensure the security of the nation.
“Our party thus stands solidly behind the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in his patriotic concerns over the report. Only a leader, who lacks genuine concern for his people, will gloat over such a report, as being witnessed under the Buhari administration”, the statement added.
