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By Zika Bobby
First Nigerian Astronaut, Owolabi Salis has called on President Bola Tinubu to adopt decisive, pragmatic measures to tackle the escalating crisis of banditry and terrorism in the country .
Salis, a lawyer , urged the president and vice president Kashim Shettima to take urgent action, warning against complacency.
“We should not wait until these dare-devil bandits overrun the country or even attack the Presidential Villa and the strategic legislative bloc before it dawns on us that they really mean business,” Salis stated, speaking against the backdrop of expert warnings about potential escalation during the dry season.
He cited the intensity of the late Chadian President Idriss Déby’s commitment against terrorism as an example.
“While I am not suggesting the President and his Vice should lead the battle, I commend unto them the need to imbibe the monomaniac fury with which the late Chadian President grappled with the knotty question of terrorism,” he said.
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Thr former governorship candidate for the Alliance For Democracy (A.D.) in Lagos, in 2019, advocated that Nigeria should urgently evolve into a military superpower, armed with sophisticated modern armament capable of inspiring awe globally.
He also stressed the need for massive recruitment into all arms of the military to achieve numerical superiority and ensure resilient response to multi-faceted threats and crises.
Salis advised on boosting the morale of existing troops and attracting new entrants by reviewing their earnings to a proportion commensurate with the life-saving nature and inherent danger of their jobs.
He lamented that a whole army, which should be a “dreadnought terror” to enemies, had to retreat, allowing a top-brass officer to be captured and killed by bandits possessing superior fire-power.
“It was particularly horrible that the bandits armed with superior fire-power overwhelmed a whole standing national army, putting them in disarray to the point that an elevated top brass officer of the rank of Brigadier-General had to run away for dear life, only to be caught so cheap by the enemy and slaughtered like a chicken,” he asserted.
Salis concluded that this failure, coupled with the inability of the Brigadier-General’s battalion to instantly fight back to save their commander, has gone a long way in demystifying the nation, making it vulnerable and liable to be taken for granted by lesser nations.
