Former Head of State, General Muhamadu Buhari (rtd) has said that the Nigerian military should not be blamed for not being able to crush the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging parts of the northeast of Nigeria.
The military, he said, are ill equipped despite the abundance of wealth being wasted on trivial issues by the government in power.
The former military leader spoke at the weekend in Enugu while addressing the states delegates of All Progressives Congress (APC) to the forthcoming presidential primaries of the party.
Buhari , a leading presidential aspirant in APC, told the delegates that “soldiers have been complaining that they are ill equipped, in spite of the trillions spent on defence budget in the last three years.”
Buhari who was accompanied by former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir El Rufai, former Minister of Information, Chief Tony Momoh, Chief Audu Ogbe, among other key officials of the party, noted that next year would be another landmark year in the history of the country.
“If you consider the foreign revenue Nigeria has generated since 1999, you will be shocked at how inefficient and corrupt PDP has been. Soldiers have been saying they are ill equipped, yet trillions have been voted for defence in the last three years,” he said.
He added: “If we don’t vote out PDP, it will vote out Nigerians and we will all be the losers. Cast your votes for us so that we can all fight this inefficiency and corruption.”
Buhari enjoined the party members to get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC’s), which is the only ammunition to vote out PDP and make sure their votes count in the 2015 general elections.
He told them to be vigilant to vote and protect their votes to make sure they count.
In a vote of thanks on behalf of the delegates, General Chris Eze (rtd) said if Nigerians elect Buhari as President, they will be sure of having a competent Commander-in- Chief once again.
Eze recalled that under Buhari as Head of State, the violent Maitasine Sect was driven away from Nigeria into Chad while his regime initiated a serious war against indiscipline and corruption.