A human rights advocacy group, Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has commended the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt General Tukur Buratai following his recent conferment with the Brazilian Military Order of Merit Award, the highest Brizilian military award at Brasilia in Brazil.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, CESJECT general secretary, Isaac Ikpa said the COAS has demonstrated that terrorism and extremism can be degraded and defeated, and therefore highly deserving of the recognition.
“The award is well deserved given the dispatch with which the Nigerian Army under General Buratai’s leadership subdued the Boko Haram problem and dealt with other threats to Nigeria’s safety, security and sovereignty,” he said.
Ikpa brushed aside what he called attempts by a CSO, Intersociety to diminish the importance of the Brazilian recognition of General Buratai’s gallantry and selfless service to humanity, he urged the CSO and it’s allies to return to school and familiarize themselves with the dynamics of the extremist and terror groups operating in Nigeria as well as obtain knowledge of the workings of Brazilian politics and military.
He said, “We therefore advise that Intersociety and any other CSO that is contemplating intervention on this level should first familiarize themselves with the nuances of international protocols. It will upgrade their mental capacity to process and deliver the requisite appreciation for them to know that it is not in their place to, based on their narrow clannish reasoning, castigate another sovereign country’s decision to honour an achiever.”
According to him, Buratai was able to achieve this feat where others failed before him and in spite of the foreign support that Nigeria’s adversaries enjoy.
He said, “The achievement was recorded beginning from a time when an ill-advised arms embargo was in place against Nigeria.
“We must not forget that those who contrived the false reports that precipitated the arms embargo have an agenda in the first place.
“General Buratai’s success effectively truncated this agenda. Brazil recognises this success as significant to the survival of countries that are the new economic powerhouses of the world and appropriately rewarded it.”
“It is therefore no surprise that the proxies of these entities with agenda against the stability of Nigeria are bitter. The Buratai led Nigerian Army has effectively prevented them from fulfilling their terms of contract that relates to destabilizing Nigeria. Every terrorist or insurgent group contrived to weaken and destroy Nigeria has been contained and rehabilitation plans announced or being planned for repentant members.
He said under Buratai’s leadership, the Army ended the reign of the several resurgent militant groups including the Niger Delta Avengers, which alongside others were bombing infrastructure in the oil industry and consequently damaging the environment on a scale that will make the local population sick and deprive them of their fishing and farming livelihood.
According to him, while the criminal elements in this area opposed the Army’s Operation Crocodile Smile there, discerning citizens and traditional leaders hailed the sanity that the exercise restored to the Niger Delta.
He said further, “There is of course the Boko Haram terror group that has been routed from the northeast.
