Consistent Loss Of Territory To Boko Haram Unsettling – NLC

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has
expressed worry over the rate at which the
country was losing his territories to Islamist
sect Boko Haram.
In a statement by its General Secretary, Dr
Peter Ozo-Eson, NLC called on the Federal
Government and armed forces to as a mark
of honour, do everything possible to reclaim
occupied territories, noting that Nigeria was
now in a full blown war.
“We stand by our security forces in these
trying times in their engagement with Boko
Haram insurgents. We believe in their
capacity and resolve to get done the job of
containing the insurgents.
“We acknowledge that this is not a regular
war. We appreciate other challenges of our
security forces among which are logistics,
numbers, indiscipline, motivation and others.
“We are however worried by the consistent
loss of territory by troops that are supposed
to be the pride of the nation to a band of
insurgents, perhaps not more than a
battalion or two, poorly trained and relatively
ill-equipped,” the statement said.
Boko Haram attacks have increased in recent
times, with the group taking over major
towns in Nigeria’s northeast, renaming them
and imposing Sharia law. The efforts of the
military to end insurgency in the country
have however so far proven abortive, with
the attacks taking different dimensions daily.
Yesterday, about 47 students were killed in a
school at Potiskum, Yobe State, when a
suicide bomber joined the students on the
assembly ground.
The military has declared an Operation No
Mercy, said to be geared at flushing out the
insurgents, but what has been heard ever
since the war declaration was another
helicopter crash with military victims.