NORTHERN ELDERS SHOULD BE GRATEFUL - IHEJIRIKA

Former Chief of Army Staff Lt.- Gen Azubuike Iheijirika has said that
the call made by Northern Elders Forum for his prosecution by the
International Criminal Court in the Hague for crimes against humanity
is ill conceived.
Speaking with State House Correspondents after worshiping at the Aso
Villa chapel, Ihejirika said that the Northern elders should instead
be grateful for the gargantuan sacrifices made by the army and other
service personnel in stemming the tide of terrorism in the Northern
region.
He said: "My reactions to that is that their statement is
ill-conceived, perhaps based on some misinformation. The northern
elders should be thanking the service chiefs, my officers and myself
for making huge sacrifices, first to see that Nigeria is save and the
north in particular since they are the first beneficiaries of the
sacrifices being made."
"There is no senatorial zone in this country that has not lost a
personnel of the armed forces it is unfortunate that the same elders,
if they are really elders have not cared to send a single condolence
message to the military."
"I think that their statement is discouraging and it impacts
negatively on the counter-terrorist efforts because as we speak, there
are soldiers that have not had a meal since yesterday because of the
peculiarity of where they are at the moment."
Speaking on the war against terrorism, he said, "It has been very
busy thing, I believe that very soon Nigerians will be very happy
because we have put quite a number of structures in place."
"I want to say that with some equipment and training that were carried
out in recent days, there will be little or no hiding place for the
insurgents."