Bashir Magashi, Defence Minister’s Comment Is Call To Anarchy–Prof Akhaine

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bashir Magashi Salihi&comma; Defence minister&comma; may have spoken wrongly on Nigerian security<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Major General<strong> Bashir<&sol;strong> Magashi Salihi ret’d&comma; Minister of Defence&comma; has earned negative comments over a statement he made during the week calling Nigerians &OpenCurlyQuote;Cowards&&num;8217&semi; over their inability to barefacedly tackle gunmen&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Specifically&comma; the Defence minister prompted criticism for urging Nigerians not to &&num;8220&semi;be cowards&&num;8221&semi; and to stand up to armed bandits&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bashir Magashi made the comments on Wednesday&comma; hours after gunmen abducted dozens of people&comma; including 27 students&comma; from the Government Science Secondary School in the Kagara district of north-central Niger state&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In the statement Bashir Magashi said &&num;8220&semi;We shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be cowards&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t know why people are running away from minor&comma; minor&comma; minor things like that&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The comments attracted widespread criticism&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Reacting on Saturday&comma; a Lagos State University Professor of Political Science and foremost human rights activist&comma; Odion Sylvester Akhaine described Magashi’s statement as a call to anarchy&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;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&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Akhaine expressed frustration over government’s cluelessness to rising insecurity in the country saying &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The defence minister&&num;8217&semi;s statement is a testament to the character of those running this country&period; It is call to anarchy&comma; and evidence of an administration at its wits end&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The reason why the banditry is continuing is because the perpetrators are the president&&num;8217&semi;s tribesmen with a land grab agenda articulated by their think-tanks&period; It is bound to fail in a multiethnic country like ours&comma;” he predicted&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;When reminded about the appointment of fresh service chiefs&comma; a development that is expected to breadth fresh strategies into military operations to end insurgency&comma; the Professor disagreed pointing out that<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The service chiefs will fail for the same reason of the connivance of the presidency with the terrorists ravaging the country&period; They will also face a dilemma of having to train their guns on Nigerians who will for sure resist the Fulani invaders&period; They are recruited to serve in a situation with limited choice&period; Without autonomy of action&comma; they should resign&comma;” Akhaine said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;