A group, Gravitas Group for Good Governance (GGGG), has condemned the role of some American soldiers in the reported arrest of a suspected terrorist in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
It asked if, how, when the American soldiers had the official permission of the Nigerian government before effecting the arrest on the Nigerian soil.
A report has it that some American soldiers, working with operatives of the Department of Security Service (DSS), last week, arrested the suspected terrorist at Trademore Estate, Lugbe.
Chairman of Phase 3, Trademore Estate, Adewale Adenaike, was reported to have narrated how officers of the DSS and some American soldiers arrested a suspected terrorist in his community.
GGGG, in a release by its convener, High Chief Tola Adeniyi, said it was alarmed and disturbed that foreign security agencies could be so allowed to carry out such an operation in a sovereign country.
The group described the development as “abnegation of responsibility and shameless surrender of sovereignty” on the part of the Nigerian government.
“To boot, picture of the American soldiers and DSS operatives was shown in the report to emphasize its veracity. Which means this is not a story that can be denied in accordance with the character of [President Muhammadu] Buhari’s administration.
“We at the Gravitas Group for Good Governance (GGGG) are seriously alarmed, worried and disturbed by this disgusting development,” the group stated in the release.
High Chief Adeniyi asked: “Who invited these foreign soldiers? When were they invited? “Under what laws were they invited? What exactly were they invited for?
“Who, for God’s sake, chose to surrender Nigeria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty sheepishly to a foreign country?”
He said the country and Nigerians have suffered grievous embarrassment nationally and internationally in the past seven and a half years.
“But nothing comes near this in its thoughtlessness, carelessness and irritating provocation,” the GGGG Convener added.
He queried the basis for the operation of the American soldiers in arresting the suspected terrorist and asked if the foreign soldiers had the permission of the Nigerian government before carrying out the operation.
The GGGG Convener further asked about the roles of the National Security Council and the National Assembly in allowing foreign military intervention within the country.
“What is the National Security Council doing? Where is the country’s National Assembly? Why should any government willingly submit itself to be overrun by a foreign power?.
“Has President Buhari created a military base for the USA on Nigerian soil? Where are the soldiers camped or will they be domiciled in the air?,” he asked.
GGGG also questioned the capacity and capability of the US to successfully quell terrorism in any part of the world. “And in any case what is the United States success rate in quelling terrorism?,” it asked.
“It failed woefully in Somalia. It failed woefully in Afghanistan, after so many years and humongous losses in human, materials and dollars. It failed in Syria
“Even [it failed] in its own land where terror-attack has just given a broken skull to the husband of their country ‘s Speaker, right in his bedroom,” the group stated.
GGGG challenged the Federal Goverment not to delay but give immediate responses to the questions raised in respect of the role of the American soldiers in the arrest of the suspected terrorist and for allowing foreign soldiers into the Nigerian soil.
“These are questions that compel answers today, not tomorrow!. There is fire on the mountain.
“Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) government must come out clean and tell Nigerians what its hidden agenda is,” High Chief Adeniyi declared in the release.
