Amaechi’s Support For Soldiers’ Mutiny Act of Treason – Presidency

The Presidency on Thursday described as an act of treason, a statement credited to Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, justifying acts of mutiny by Nigerian troops.

The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, said no responsible Nigerian or political organisation should ever contemplate encouraging or supporting mutiny in the Nigerian Army under any circumstances.

Amaechi, who was recently appointed the Director-General of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation for the 2015 presidential election, was reported to have said soldiers have the right to mutiny, especially if they were poorly armed. He was reacting to the recent death sentence passed on some soldiers by a general court martial for acts of mutiny.

According to Amaechi, “The challenge of the Nigerian military is not funding but corruption. Now they want to kill some 50 officers for their own failure to equip them properly to fight terrorism. The soldiers have the right to protest for the federal government’s failure to fully equip them”.

In its reaction, the Presidency said: “It is a pity that because of Amaechi’s huge financial commitment to the General Buhari campaign, the presidential candidate of the APC has compromised his personal integrity and enviable military antecedents to endorse such reckless statement issued on his behalf”.

Speaking further, Okupe described the Rivers governor as an unrepentant socio-path whose main preoccupation is to desecrate constituted authority and create chaos and anarchy in the country.

He also recalled that Amaechi had recently announced that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would form a parallel government if the party loses in 2015.

“Nigerians must clearly see the unsuitability of the major personalities that hold sway in the APC for leadership in the country”, the presidential aide said.

Okupe enjoined all Nigerians “to roundly condemn this act of treason against the state in a unclad and reckless pursuit of power”.