Lt-General OA Ihejirikaeji
Immediate past Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika has replied former Minister of FCT, Mallam Nasir El Rufai on his allegation that the former army general was one of the chief sponsors of the Boko Haram sect.
The former army boss said El Rufail is one of the executive commanders of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Ihejiraka was responding to a claim by the former minister on Thursday that he (Ihejirika) and former Governor Modu Sheriff of Borno State were among those financing the activities of the bloodthirsty group.
Speaking with Vanguard on Thursday, Ihejiraka said, “The (Commanders) including El-Rufai know where the problem is. He should stop deceiving Nigerians by trying to divert attention”.
He further accused El-rufai of organising weaponry and equipment needed to fight the insurgency from the military and giving same to the sect.
“The likes of El-Rufai have been supporting Boko Haram. In fact, El-Rufai and his likes are the same group of people that ensured the army did not get the requested equipment to deal with this menace once and for all, as they used their cohorts to tell the government that procuring modern equipment were not necessary”, he added.
The former Army Chief also said that El-Rufai and others allegedly green-lighted Boko Haram’s activities and attempted to divert concern from the atrocities of the sect.
He said, “When the Boko Haram operation started, supporters of the sect like El-Rufai said that there was nothing like Boko Haram and that the army was just killing innocent youths.
“El-Rufai said that I was re-inventing the killing of the Ibos during the Biafra war following government’s determination to rid the country of terrorism.”
Iherjirika also said that he was the first person to declare that the country was dealing with a war situation, but El-Rufai and others allegedly denied the gravity of the situation, disagreeing with his judgment.
This move, the General said, gave Boko Haram time to regroup and redevelop.
Comments