Former
Chief of Army Staff, General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika yesterday
opened a can of worms by declaring that the former minister of the
Federal Capital Territory and APC Chieftain, Mallam Nasir El-Rufia is
one of the frontline Commanders of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Speaking
with Vanguard over allegation by the former minister that he
(Ihejirika) and former Governor Modu Sheriff of Borno State were
manipulated as terrorists sponsors, General Ihejirika said he is not
surprised that this unimaginable allegation is coming from ‘one of the
Boko Haram Commanders’.
“The (Commanders) including El-Rufai know
where the problem is. He should stop deceiving Nigerians by trying to
divert attention”.
According to Ihejirika, “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”.
“If you also remember, not too long ago, some of their
supporters including 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.
Ihejirika who was obviously
angry while speaking on phone, also said, “The likes of El-Rufai started
the campaign of human right abuses, in order to divert the
international attention of the heinous crime being committed by the Boko
Haram terrorists”.
Gen. Ihejirika then recalled recent
allegations against his person indicating that that he took away N48
billion, an amount of money which is still in the coffers of the
Ministry of Defence, which can be verified by anybody adding that he was
not surprised that these allegation is coming from the likes of
El-Rufai who started the campaign.
Continuing the former Army
Chief said, “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 to 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”.
Recalling
that the same El-Rufai went to Thisday Newspaper premises to grant
interview to condemn security forces for the efforts at ridding the
country of these senseless mayhem by the terrorists, Ihejirika said, “At
the onset of this crisis, I was the first person to declare that the
country was at war but group of sponsors led by El-Rufai disagreed, that
it was not true”.
“It is the same group of El-Rufai that started
the human right abuses campaign. It was done in order to block any
international assistance after the state of emergency was declared and
the sect was initially tamed. That gave Boko Haram time and respite to
build up again”.
Furthermore, General Ihejirika said that when
the United States was to initially declare Boko Haram a terrorist
organization, the same El-Rufai and his group mounted pressure on the
international community, using alleged human right abuses as campaign
strategy.
The former Army Chief revealed that this same group
including El-Rufai have taken further steps in support of Boko Haram,
“which I cannot disclose for now”.
It will be recalled that
shortly after his tenure came to an end as COAS, some Northern political
elites started the crusade for General Azubuike Ihejirika to be
summoned before the International criminal Court in the Hague claiming
that he killed their sons and daughters innocently whereas it is on
record that no other military leader but Ihejirika did a lot in helping
the nation contain the rapid spread of Boko Haram insurgency in the
country.
He not only established the 7th Division of the Nigerian
Army with headquarters in Maiduguri, he established new Army Brigades,
Counter Terrorism Schools in Kachia and Jaji as well as the Terrorism
Training School.
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