Fayemi: Buhari will soon ask National Assembly to approve funds for arms purchase

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State says President Muhammadu Buhari will soon send a special request to the National Assembly in order to buy equipment militating against the effective clearance of the insurgents by the Armed Forces.

Fayemi said this while responding to questions from State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.

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The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) also said the resources being made by kidnappers are being used to finance the insurgency in the North East.

He said by the time, Nigeria purchases more arms, the military will step up its offensive against bandits and terrorists.

“There is a direct correlation, I have said this to you before, between insurgency in the Northeast, and what we are seeing manifesting itself as banditry in the Northwest, or kidnapping in the Southwest. Some of the people involved in these are also the ones responsible for insurgency.

“They are using the resources that they make from kidnapping for the activities that they are conducting in the Northeast. So, we need to take a comprehensive look at all these things and not treat them in compartments. We must treat them as a comprehensive issue and then tackle them collectively,” he said.

The NGF chairman said President Buhari had taken the right step in changing the leadership of the security agencies.

He lauded the service chiefs for their decision to subject themselves to the leadership of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, describing it as significant.

Fayemi added that “the inter service-rivalry in our military in the past had affected the performance of the troops on the field.

“Where the air force does not communicate with the army and yet they are supposed to be involved in the same war against insurgency. So, the fact that there is unanimity and they are trying to speak with one voice, I believe that’s a significant step in boosting the morale of the men on the field and the efforts that they are taking to go round, audit the equipment, audit the situation of their men is also going to help to improve the condition of the security services,” he said.

Some weeks back, Gen Babagana Monguno (rtd), the National Security Adviser, had said the money Buhari approved for arms under the former service chiefs could not be accounted for.