.Opposition party says Boko Haram stealing territory and soldiers foray into Cameroon national embarrassment

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as an unprecedented national embarrassment the increasing seizure of Nigerian towns by the terrorist group Boko Haram and the reported fleeing of 480 Nigerian soldiers to Cameroon during an attack on a military base in Gamboru-Ngala on Monday.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently address Nigerians on the worsening security situation in the northern part of the country that has allowed Boko Haram to proclaim its rule over a part of the nation’s territory.

President Goodluck Jonathan: opposition wants him to rally nation

It said in the face of the biggest threat to Nigeria’s unity and territorial integrity since the country’s civil war, President Jonathan must also put partisanship aside and rally the nation against Boko Haram, which by all indications seems to be getting bolder and stronger, to such an extent that the group is now hoisting its flag over parts of the nation’s territory.

APC also restated its call for an urgent national stakeholders’ conference on security that will cut across party lines to help fashion a solution to what has now become a clear and present danger to the survival of Nigeria, while pledging its unalloyed support for any sincere effort by the Federal Government to end the insurgency as quickly as possible.

As an immediate first step, the party calls on President Jonathan to immediately halt the illegal electioneering campaign by his Ministers, other appointees and supporters, saying Nigeria must survive as a nation before any party or individual can rule over it.

”These campaigns, ostensibly by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) but in truth being bankrolled by the Federal Government, offends national sensibilities at a time our citizens are being daily slaughtered and our troops are struggling against the terrorists who are bent on balkanizing our nation. Needless to remind Nigerians that over 200 school girls remain missing more than 130 days after they were abducted,” the party said, adding: ”The President must put politics aside for now and lead the nation to defeat Boko Haram.”

It also charged the military high command and its civilian leadership to quit politicking and fashion out ways for the military to live up to its constitutional responsibility of maintaining Nigeria’s territorial integrity.