‘A Country Is Only As Strong As Its Armed Forces’ – Wike

The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has said that a country is “only as strong as its armed forces”.

His comments come amid the celebration of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, stating that the inability of the armed forces to deal with the insurgency besieging the country was a sign that “all is not well” with approaches to the fight against internal insecurity.

He said that the service chiefs should “give way for fresh hands” in their combat against insurgency in the country.

Wike said, “A country is as strong as its Armed Forces. Her inability to defeat the Boko Haram insurgency despite years of full military engagement shows that all is not well with our approaches and commitments to the battle against internal insecurity.

“Today, therefore, also raises the need for all of us to be worried by the deteriorating security situation across the country and restate the call on the Federal Government to do everything necessary to bring the security threat by Boko Haram and armed bandits to a decisive end in the shortest time possible.

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“We thank the Service Chiefs for their efforts so far in the battle against the insurgents. But we also align with the concern of citizens that having seemingly reached their wits’ end, they should now give way for fresh hands and ideas to give the fight the impetus that it so strongly needs to ensure that Boko Haram and killer bandits are comprehensively defeated and smoked out of existence.

“The time has come for the Federal Government to stop the pretence, change strategy, seek help from our friends and confront the urgency of the internal insecurity situation in Nigeria with every weaponry at its disposal to stop the killing, free all hostages and improve the physical security of our country for all Nigerians.”