• Faults Amaechi’s timing for presidential declaration
Civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, counselled the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to speak less about the ongoing terrorism in Nigeria because of alleged half-truths and propaganda.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the half-truths and propaganda he spews out often during his public speaking engagements, constitute grave threats to national security and could make Nigerians with actionable intelligence not to trust the government enough as to make disclosures.
The group stressed that part of the problems of not realising the objectives of fighting the war on terror is the mixed signals and body language that persons with the confusing missions will often always try to contradict military Generals each time they issue stern rebukes or warn terrorists.
HURIWA asked President Muhammadu Buhari to ban Mohammed from using public office to provide a morale boost to Islamic terrorists by issuing contradictory statements to water down the instructions and statements made by the Generals, who are the persons directly commanding the war on terror or is he carrying out a pre-planned programme?
It also wondered why Mohammed had to come out a few days after the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor gave a stern warning to terrorists hibernating around the North West and those of them carrying out genocide against Christians in Southern Kaduna to dilute the warning by contradicting the military General on his threats to wipe out terrorists from the North West.
According to HURIWA, the current administration has indeed put round pegs in square holes.
“The choice of Mohammed as the minister of Information and Culture when his public persona does not motivate or stimulate trust and public confidence is one of the grave mistakes made by President Muhammadu Buhari in the constitution of his federal cabinet.
“If a public referendum is to be conducted today amongst consumers of media contents in Nigeria, especially information emanating from the Federal Government headed by President Buhari, it is very likely that almost 100 per cent of those polled will give the feedback that information emanating from the current holder of the office of the minister of Information and Culture is taken with pinch of salt and not a lot of public confidence is built by virtually all of the statements made so far by the minister.
“This is why he has to be stopped from pouring fuel into the crises of terrorist attacks tearing down Nigerian societal fabrics. Most of the statements about Islamic terrorists made by Mohammed convey the impression that the Federal Government has a lot to do with the daredevil activities of these terrorists, especially the genre domiciled in North West of Nigeria made up essentially of Fulani’s,” it stated.
ALSO, HURIWA has faulted the declaration for the office of President by the Transportation minister, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi when the nation is still mourning unlucky train passengers killed by terrorists in Kaduna on their way from Abuja.
The group noted that about 200 passengers are yet to be accounted for, when the man, who is in charge of the transportation system in which innocent passengers were gruesomely murdered by terrorists overlooked by the Federal Government and allowed to roam around, has gone ahead to organise elaborate political ceremony, to announce his intention to contest for the office of President of Nigeria.
“In his little ministry of transportation, hundreds of innocent passengers attacked by terrorists are still in pain and many have died from the dereliction of duty displayed by the officials of the nation’s transportation sector.”
“The timing was totally inappropriate for Nigeria’s transportation minister, to have declared his intention to contest for president in 2023,” the group declared.
Source: Guardian.ng
