Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has bemoaned the repeated killings of men and women of the Nigerian Armed Forces by Boko Haram and called for expedited funding to equip them to fight off the insurgents.
Atiku in a statement he personally signed on Thursday night said he was tired of sending out unnecessary condolences for avoidable deaths which he said could be avoided through proper equipping of the military.
He said: “With the rising spate of terror activities in the Middle Belt and the North East, I urgently call for increased funding for our military so that they are equipped and their morale boosted enough to contain and then defeat insecurity in Nigeria.
“It is unacceptable that terrorists and criminals are frequently better equipped than members of our armed forces. It is the duty of the political elite to put aside any political differences and take a United stand to put an end to this.
“The increasing deaths of our servicemen at the hand of terrorists and criminals, especially in the Northeast and Middle Belt, is a clear sign that our troops need to be better funded and better equipped. It is true that funds are scarce, but this is an emergency and if we do not take care of an emergency, it becomes a crisis which can lead to a total breakdown of law and order – anarchy in essence.”
Atiku in another report had also said on Friday that President Muhammadu Buhari should tell Nigerians the kind of support he is giving the Army that it lost the number of soldiers it lost.
