Military ware issues being handled, Jonathan says

He said at a meeting of the national executive committee of the People’s Democratic Party in Abuja that the National Security Adviser on Wednesday briefed party trustees on current security challenges in the country.Jonathan said based on that presentation, some of the problems encountered in surmounting insurgency like lack of equipment for the military would […]

He said at a meeting of the national executive committee of the People’s Democratic Party in Abuja that the National Security Adviser on Wednesday briefed party trustees on current security challenges in the country.
Jonathan said based on that presentation, some of the problems encountered in surmounting insurgency like lack of equipment for the military would be tackled.
“Members of the BOT (board of trustees) and members of the National Caucus called the National Security Adviser to brief them. All what I can assure you is that those issues of equipment and other things, we are handling them,” he said in remarks at the opening of the PDP’s 65th NEC meeting in Abuja.
“Most of our PDP states are doing well. In fact security challenges are less in the PDP states because of the commitment of the governors.”
The Federal Government has been criticised for not providing the military with adequate weaponry to fight the Boko Haram sect.
Sources who attended the PDP caucus meeting Wednesday night told Daily Trust that the NSA said at the meeting that troops lack sophisticated equipment to battle insurgents. He also said there will be massive recruitment of personnel into the armed forces and other security agencies to meet up with demands.
Jonathan said yesterday much has been achieved in the fight against insurgency, but that the success has not been noticed due to the size of the country.
He said, “At the federal level if we don’t do well that is where they will say ‘what have they done?’ We are working hard; some people are appreciating some of the things we are doing.
“The country is so big that sometimes people don’t see everything. By the time we give account of our stewardship, the party members will be happy for what we have done over this short period of time.”
Yobe: Army needs equipment
President Jonathan spoke on the day the Yobe State Government reiterated its stand that provision of adequate weaponry is a basic requirement in the fight against insurgency.
In a statement, government spokesman Abdullahi Bego said “a major component of this effort remains the necessity to provide our troops on the ground the weaponry and capabilities they need to go after and subdue Boko Haram.”
The statement was in response to Chief Edwin Clark’s call for the removal of governors in emergency states. Bego said what was required to win the insurgency war was arming the military and partnering with the local populace.
“Our troops, who have helped restore peace in other climes, can and should have this and other necessary and lethal capabilities to hunt and smoke out terrorists,” he said.
“The Senate itself has given a voice to this position in the eight conditions it stipulated for accepting to pass the president’s request for state of emergency extension when it calls for ‘proper kitting and arming’ of our armed forces.
“We have also emphasised the need for the Federal Government to actively engage the civilian populations in the affected states and partner with them on behalf of peace and security. Any counter-insurgency initiative which has ever succeeded has always carried the victim populations along. This is done through targeted interventions and other support measures.”
‘N/Assembly is PDP assembly’
In his remarks at the PDP meeting, Jonathan commended the leadership of the National Assembly for stemming the tide of defection from the PDP.
He said he was being asked abroad on what was happening with the ruling party when it was losing grip of the legislature.
“But within this period, I think there are clear signs. This is party politics. We are beginning to see that the ‘Game Changer’ has brought so much changes across the board. We are beginning to see that the National Assembly is a PDP assembly,” Jonathan said.
He said the party does not feel the absence of the five governors who defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Even though some people left us, but we are not noticing their absence because of the leadership and commitment shown by Governor Akpabio, the chairman of PDP, and Governor Jang, the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and other members of the governors forum from the PDP, because of their total commitment,” he said.
“It is like a football team. Nigeria, we have won a team with 10 players before because when they removed one and they removed the second one, the rest of the people started playing as if they were 13. So, we didn’t even notice that we have lost two. That is what the PDP governors are doing.”
In his remarks, PDP national chairman Ahmadu Adamu Muazu also bemoaned the state of insecurity, saying the administration has had the most challenges in the history of the country and blamed it on the enemies of progress.