Bashir Magashi Salihi, Defence minister, may have spoken wrongly on Nigerian security
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Major General Bashir Magashi Salihi ret’d, Minister of Defence, has earned negative comments over a statement he made during the week calling Nigerians ‘Cowards’ over their inability to barefacedly tackle gunmen.
Specifically, the Defence minister prompted criticism for urging Nigerians not to “be cowards” and to stand up to armed bandits.
Bashir Magashi made the comments on Wednesday, hours after gunmen abducted dozens of people, including 27 students, from the Government Science Secondary School in the Kagara district of north-central Niger state.
In the statement Bashir Magashi said “We shouldn’t be cowards. I don’t know why people are running away from minor, minor, minor things like that,” he said.
The comments attracted widespread criticism.
Reacting on Saturday, a Lagos State University Professor of Political Science and foremost human rights activist, Odion Sylvester Akhaine described Magashi’s statement as a call to anarchy.
He lamented that the reason Nigeria and Nigerians still live in a perpetual state of fears arising from the dastardly acts of terrorists and kidnappers is because appointees like Bashir Magashi are still in government.
Akhaine expressed frustration over government’s cluelessness to rising insecurity in the country saying “The defence minister’s statement is a testament to the character of those running this country. It is call to anarchy, and evidence of an administration at its wits end.
“The reason why the banditry is continuing is because the perpetrators are the president’s tribesmen with a land grab agenda articulated by their think-tanks. It is bound to fail in a multiethnic country like ours,” he predicted.
When reminded about the appointment of fresh service chiefs, a development that is expected to breadth fresh strategies into military operations to end insurgency, the Professor disagreed pointing out that
“The service chiefs will fail for the same reason of the connivance of the presidency with the terrorists ravaging the country. They will also face a dilemma of having to train their guns on Nigerians who will for sure resist the Fulani invaders. They are recruited to serve in a situation with limited choice. Without autonomy of action, they should resign,” Akhaine said.
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