Why is it difficult to fix Nigeria’s mess? Buhari failed, Tinubu is failing – Emotional Colonel Stan-Labo speaks on fight against terrorism

Colonel Hassan Stan-Labo, a security consultant and defence strategist has tackled the past and present leaders of Nigeria on their failure to end terrorism in the country.

While speaking during an interview on Arise TV Morning Show, on the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, Col. Stan-Labo asserted that former President Muhammadu Buhari did nothing in the fight against terrorism in the last eight years.

According to him, Buhari promoted and enhance Nigeria’s hardship and Nigerians allowed undue sentiments right from the presidency to be visited in our alleged purported plan or action against terrorism.

He stated that there is a resemblance with President Bola Tinubu’s administration and Buhari-led government in their fight against insecurity.

He also tackled sympathisers of terrorists calling for amnesty with the claim of repentance.

He noted that as soldiers their duty is not to grant repentance but hasten the terrorists appointment to God.

Appealing to the military, Colonel Stan-Labo said that to win the fight against terrorism, they must face the war with seriousness and desist from leaving PWs else they “reserve a force for belligerence who tomorrow will face our children”.

He said;

“Former President Muhamadu Buhari in the last eight years did virtually nothing in our fight against terrorism. He promoted and enhanced our hardship as afar as the fight against terrorism is concerned.

We allowed undue sentiments right from the presidency to be visited in our alleged purported plan or action against terrorism. You could read religion, tribalism, ethnicity etc. Its unfortunate.

At the sub-national level, we had governors, especially up north where I come from, under that administration that had all sought of romance and unholy relationship with terrorism. Degenerating to a situation where some of them were talking about Amnesty. It was shocking to some of us. Amnesty for who? You tell me there are repentant terrorists. Repentant from what? We are soldiers, our duty is not to grant repentance. Our duty is to hasten your duty to God.

So, for us to be bringing large number of men from the forest who were armed and taking on fellow Nigerians, then on the appearance of soldiers they drop their weapons and you’re compelled as a professional to take them PWs and you bring them back to us? And you say they are repentant and you give their godfathers, sitting in government houses to begin to talk about Amnesty.

So, now we have a new administration in place. In the last six or seven months I haven’t seen a change from what’s been happening in the last eight years. We hope the president now is not listening to some ill advice coming in from some elements or people who have sympathy with the last administration to him on how to fight terrorism.

We have an ample opportunity to change the guard on how we fight terrorism. I appeal to my colleagues in the military. I understand very much what the rules of international war says on PWs and so on. I must tell you gentlemen, if we must fight this war and come out of it unscathed and make sure that we don’t eventually leave this world for our grandchildren to fight continually because of our attitude then we have got to face this war and face it with all the brut it calls for. Face it with all the seriousness it calls for and not to start heaping PWs here and there. The more PWs we gather the more we are heaping up a reserve force for belligerence who tomorrow will face our children. Whether we want to accept it or not that is the bitter truth. When you meet them in the forest bring them down.

I’m beginning to see a great deal of semblance in insecurity under this present administration and the last administration. The political will in the administration towards this thing is so weak. I was expecting to see a commander-in-chief who will be touching down in Plateau, coming out of a military helicopter, in camouflage and sea helmet, assuring villagers that we shall get this rubbish done with. We shall stop this henceforth, talk to the women and children, talk to your service chiefs, tell them you give them one or two weeks to produce the perpetrators. Tell your national security advicer, your DSS, and service chiefs to produce the perpetrators in the next two weeks or lose their jobs. This is the sought of decisiveness I ought to see from a commander-in-chief, from someone who calls himself the father of this nation. What is happening? Is it so difficult to get us out of this mess? We cannot crush these guys and kick them off our territory?”

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