Senate President Seeks Support for Armed Forces

By Kingsley Nwezeh

Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, yesterday called on Nigerians to recognise and support the sacrifices and contributions of the members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) in maintaining the territorial integrity of the country.

The Senate President made the call at the special juma’at prayer to commemorate the 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration at the National Mosque, Abuja.

He said the sacrifices of the nation’s fallen heroes would be remembered for paying the supreme price to protect the territorial integrity of the country and called for their support and prayers by Nigerians.

He noted that the National Assembly would continue to work closely with the executive arm of government to provide special intervention programmes for the military to enhance their performance.

This, he said, was evident in the recent special budgetary provisions the two arms of government accorded the 2021 and 2022 budgets to enhance their operational efficiency and proficiency and pledged its sustenance.

“We are going to support you and when I said we, I said as administration, as a government, as a nation, as a people.

“We know the enormous sacrifice that AFN have been doing to protect territorial integrity of our nation, the fight against the various forms of insecurity across the country”, he said.

“We are for you as a legislature, we believe that we should continue. In fact, it is an imperative that we continue to support the Armed Forces through appropriation and other interventions that will enhance their performance,” he said.

He called on all the clergy and other Nigerians to pray for the success of the members of the armed forces for them to succeed.

Speaking in the same vein, the Chief Imam Abuja Central Mosque, Dr Abubakar Kabir Adam, acknowledged that the prayers were set aside to remember the nations fallen heroes, who sacrificed their lives in defence of Nigeria and to ensure peace in the country.

The Chief Imam, who called for sober reflection and the virtue of repentance, noted that it was only then that the Almighty God would have mercy and heal the land.

He urged Nigerians to always volunteer to providing credible intelligence to the military and other security agencies to enable them fish out the criminal elements from their hideouts for the sustainable peace in the country.

Armed Forces Remembrance Day is an annual event which holds on the January 15 every year to remember and appreciate the sacrifices, gallantry and contributions of the men and women in the military, who paid the supreme price in maintaining the territorial integrity of the country.