Insecurity Poses Challenges To April Polls – Army Chief

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen Onyeabo Ihejirika, on Monday decried the spate of insecurity in the country, saying that it poses great challenges to the April general elections.

Ihejirika said during the commanding officers’ workshop in Jos that the current dimensions of the problem called for the involvement of the military.

“You are all aware of the challenges posed by ethno-religious upheavals, terrorism, armed banditry, kidnapping and other forms of insecurity in our nation today.

“The dimension of these challenges is such that our involvement in internal security duties is paramount. This trend is likely to prevail as we approach the April 2011 general elections,” he said.

Ihejirika said that President Goodluck Jonathan was very pleased with the performance of the military, and challenged the men not only to maintain but improve upon their performances.

He urged the military to be “proactive and be highly professional in every sense,” as they were being deployed to discharge their duties in line with the operational directives and orders”.

“Let me note that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. In this wise, the Army shall continue to remain the symbol of unity in the discharge of its constitutional responsibilities. “I, therefore, urge you to remain apolitical and duly committed to the sustenance of democracy at all times,” the Army chief said.

He challenged the officers and men to earn the support and admiration of the civil populace through professional conduct.

“The military must be courteous to the civil populace at all times because the benefit cannot be over-emphasised. If you are hostile to them, they will not give you vital information. The Army leadership hierarchy will not accept any act of mediocrity. There is no room for failure in any assigned tasks,” he warned.

Ihejirika said that all logistics required to enhance operational success would be provided but tasked them to show mastery of their profession.

He said that the workshop was an avenue for all commanding officers to interact and share peculiar and practical experiences with a view to raising their performances and standards.

Earlier, the GOC, 3 Armoured Division, Maj.-Gen. Sunday Idoko, said the workshop was aimed at achieving Ihejirika’s vision of transforming the “Army into a force better and able to meet contemporary challenges”.

The workshop drew participants from all the military formations in Northern Nigeria, including GOC 1 Mechanised Division, Kaduna, Maj.-Gen. Joseph Shoboiki, Director, Directorate of Military Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Sani Audu, and heads of security agencies in Plateau State.

The week-long workshop has as its theme: “Repositioning the Commanding Officers to meet Contemporary Challenges”.

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