From Okwe Obi, Abuja
A civil society organisation, Unity Advocacy Group, has urged Nigerians to support the military in its quest to combat bandits, rather than weeping up sentiments capable of dampening morale of troops.
The group made the call in reaction to attempts to underplay recent raids on bandits by the military.
Its Convener, Ifeanyi Aigbedion, in a statement on Wednesday said what is needed for Nigeria to come out of the present security challenges is support and cooperation with the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
According to Aigbedion, the leadership of the Armed Forces has never hidden its support for dialogue as a way out of the challenges.
“The leadership of the Armed Forces of Nigeria has transversed the length and breadth of the country meeting with stakeholders on need for peace.
“What is needed now is the citizens support and cooperation for the Armed Forces to perform their duty of restoring peace and order.
“While not speaking for the Armed Forces of Nigeria, we speak as stakeholders in the Nigeria project who are affected by the situation in the country, we are against any form of insinuations that will further dampen morale of troops, especially when coming from highly placed personalities.
“Troops of the Armed Forces are our brothers and sisters, we must not expose them to enemies of the country.
“They have made enough sacrifices in terms of human and material resources. They need our support,” he said.