A top lawyer says Nigeria's military could crush terrorists if funded properly, but thieves stole the gear money. Human rights attorney Femi Falana, speaking in Ilawe Ekiti, argued that a well-equipped and motivated Nigerian armed forces could defeat terrorism and banditry without foreign help. He lamented that rag-tag criminal groups often appear better armed than soldiers due to massive corruption, where funds for weapons procurement were looted by known figures.
Falana pointed to specific court cases, like a service chief charged with stealing over twenty-two billion naira who was freed on a jurisdictional technicality, and a former governor accused of taking nearly seven billion naira from a national security advisor's office who was released without a defense. He stated these stolen billions, meant for hardware, have left troops ill-equipped. He demanded a mechanism to recover these stolen procurement funds for their original purpose.
He also warned against letting foreign interventions, like a recent U.S. airstrike in Sokoto, frame the conflict in religious terms, stressing that the criminals killing and kidnapping Nigerians do not discriminate by faith. Falana further connected insecurity to social issues like rampant youth unemployment, suggesting that idle hands easily turn to crime. He emphasized that securing the nation is a constitutional duty of the Nigerian government, not any foreign power, and called on citizens to pressure leaders to fulfill this responsibility.
Falana pointed to specific court cases, like a service chief charged with stealing over twenty-two billion naira who was freed on a jurisdictional technicality, and a former governor accused of taking nearly seven billion naira from a national security advisor's office who was released without a defense. He stated these stolen billions, meant for hardware, have left troops ill-equipped. He demanded a mechanism to recover these stolen procurement funds for their original purpose.
He also warned against letting foreign interventions, like a recent U.S. airstrike in Sokoto, frame the conflict in religious terms, stressing that the criminals killing and kidnapping Nigerians do not discriminate by faith. Falana further connected insecurity to social issues like rampant youth unemployment, suggesting that idle hands easily turn to crime. He emphasized that securing the nation is a constitutional duty of the Nigerian government, not any foreign power, and called on citizens to pressure leaders to fulfill this responsibility.
