Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), now chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Audu Ogbeh, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to take high level diplomatic actions against Cameroun, Niger and Chad for allegedly aiding the insurgency in Nigeria.
He also urged Jonathan to declare these countries as enemies of Nigeria for allegedly habouring Boko Haram members, while asking that Nigeria should apply drastic actions in the fight against the Boko Haram sect.
According to him, "We sympathise with the president and his government, we also urge him to take serious diplomatic step with Cameroun, Niger and Chad and other neighbouring country, and that anybody who harbours criminals is an enemy of Nigeria."
The APC chieftain expressed doubts whether the committee set by the federal government to rescue the Chibok kidnapped girls could achieve anything meaningful, while also lamenting that security checkpoints are porous because security agents are poorly equipped to detect explosives, raising questions over the impact of trillion of naira disbursed by the government for security so far. He also questioned the effectiveness of the state of emergency in the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, stating that: "The thing is about strengthening the security and probing them to know who is where and who is what and who is loyal or not."
Ogbeh blamed the political elites in the North for causing so much poverty and under developing the region, explaining that over the years, they have focused so much attention on politics and scramble for elective positions and showing no interest in governance and development of the region.
The former PDP leader also advised the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, to be more advisory, adding that: "The duty of the president is to be the chief public relations man in Nigeria, so certain things should be said only by him before you start causing confusion in the minds of the people."
According to Ogbeh, "We have got to take more drastic steps than we are taking now because a situation where invaders kill 100 in Katsina, 215 in Birnin Kebbi, and many others in Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Nassarawa States, while in the case of Benue State, a chemical was used in village to kill 18 people and we all suspected that Fulani herdsmen, thinking that there are mercenaries hired from our neighbours and faraway places but some of those caught were of Arab origin. What is going on? Who is declaring war on Nigeria?
Also, President Jonathan has been urged to invoke the powers of his office to compel the leaders of Chad, Niger and Cameroun, believed to be accommodating the terrorists that abducted and sold the Chibok girls, to produce the girls or face the diplomatic wrath of Nigeria, which prides itself as the giant of Africa.
The President, Women Arise for Change Initiative, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, who in a press statement yesterday demanded that the girls must be rescued alive, said the affected countries must be sanctioned. "The government has breached our trust by failing to secure their borders but instead have provided free passage to criminals to raid and capture our precious jewels."
The body also demanded that Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State who was accused by the Head of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) office in Nigeria of insisting that the girls be called back to school to be part of the rescue efforts. According to her, to press these demands, the Women Arise Nigeria would from Wednesday, May 14, 2014 begin to march across the streets of Lagos, Lokoja, Akure Onitsha, Kaduna and Abuja in peaceful procession.
"We are placing a demand on the government and on all stakeholders to do all that is necessary to secure the release of these girls."
