NLC BLASTS MILITARY OVER BOKO HARAM

Nigeria Labour Congress

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has blasted the Nigerian military over the Boko Haram insurgency.

The NLC in a statement issued on Monday by its General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, titled: ‘Reclaim Your Honour,’ called on the military to brace up to its arduous task of defending the country’s national integrity, a copy obtained by ThisDay. 

The union, who expressed worries over the consistent loss of territories to the Boko Haram terrorist group by the armed forces stressed that it was the military’s responsibility to protect the country.

“It is saddening that all but half the North-east, the size of many countries, is under the control of the insurgents. Our soldiers swore to an oath to maintain the territorial integrity as well as defend the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Today that sanctity is being violated with ease, the land is being desecrated and the blood of the innocent freely flows. Today, painfully, our armed forces have become the butt of jokes in not a few diplomatic circles as our soldiers have acquired for themselves the unenviable reputation of turning tail and becoming refugees at the slightest threat of a skirmish,” he said.

Ozo-Eson, however, lamented the development because of the challenges confronted by the military in tackling the rather unconventional war being waged against the country by the insurgents.

“We at the Nigeria Labour Congress feel hurt and pained by what we are witnessing. We are saddened and petrified by what seems to be the unraveling of a dark prophesy. While our forces are retreating from the Boko Haram in various battle fronts, the sect has opened a new offensive, that of winning hearts in conquered territories,” he said.

The general secretary, who said the union was worried at the rate the nation is losing grounds in the war against the Boko Haram insurgents, assured that NLC stands by Nigerian security forces in these trying times in their engagement with the Boko Haram insurgents.

He said NLC believe in the capacity of the Nigerian military and resolve to get done the job of containing the insurgents once and for all.

Ozo-Eson, however, acknowledges the fact that this is not a regular war and condemned other challenges confronting the security forces among which are logistics, numbers, indiscipline, motivation and others.

He reiterated that NLC was very worried by the consistent loss of territories by troops that are supposed to be the pride of the nation to a band of insurgents, and alleged that perhaps not more than a battalion or two, poorly trained and relatively ill-equipped but whose foremost strength is their resolve to fight.

Ozo-Eson, said the labour union challenges the military to reclaim its honour by wiping out the Boko Haram insurgency because it was the reason the citizens paid tax, made sacrifices as well as surrendered their right to bear arms.