Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has urged the federal government to take decisive action, including exploring diplomatic options to curb the menace of the factional leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Simon Ekpa.
He made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris in Abuja, aimed at fostering partnership on information dissemination.
The defence chief warned of the danger of ceding the airspace to Ekpa, who is based in Finland, for him to continue spreading utterances capable of setting the country on fire.
Musa said Finland should not for whatever reason be offering protection to the IPOB leader.
“I want to bring up this issue of Simon Ekpa. I still don’t know why we are not doing anything much about him. We can’t allow him to get the airspace against us. The country Finland is offering him and is giving him refuge. They should not do that for whatever reason and we have the diplomatic means of going through those things.
“I think the Ministry of Information can do so much to mitigate all these challenges we are facing. We want you to come in because you will help us a lot.
We can pass this message across to Nigerians why every Nigerian should take ownership of what is going on. It will assist us in also achieving much because the cooperation will now come with the understanding and confidence which are critical aspects for us to be able to achieve our goals,” Musa said
The CDS called for the support of the public in the war against insurgency, terrorism, and banditry, stressing that the war is a collective endeavour of all Nigerians to defeat criminal elements challenging the sovereignty of the country.
In his remarks, Idris said the federal government was already reviewing the situation about Ekpa saying: “What I want to tell you is that we are reviewing that situation very well. There are things we don’t want to reveal in public. We uphold freedom of information”.
The minister asserted that the promotion of patriotism and nationalism was a strategic approach to curb violent crimes such as banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism in the country.
“The concept of nationalism, nationhood, and patriotism must return, for us to have the unity and prosperity that all of us seek. We have seen a gradual erosion of our values – those values need to be reclaimed and we have to recover our senses as Nigerians,” Idris said.
He requested the military to reintroduce the programme of embedding journalists in military operations to provide firsthand insight into the theatre of operations thereby fostering a more informed and balanced narrative.
Olawale Ajimotokan
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