A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former senator representing Ekiti State, Ayodele Arise, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider a military option to secure the release of Nigerian soldiers reportedly being held in Burkina Faso.
Arise made the call on Saturday while speaking on an Arise Television program,in reaction to recent comments by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, who confirmed that Nigerian soldiers aboard an aircraft that made a forced landing in Burkina Faso are still in the country.
While acknowledging that the Nigerian military is currently stretched by the challenges of insurgency and banditry at home, Arise insisted that the option of military action against Burkina Faso should not be ruled out.
He cited Israel’s 1976 Entebbe Raid in Uganda as an example of decisive action taken to rescue its citizens, stressing that Nigeria must be firm in defending its national interests.
“I think we should move and do something. As a matter of fact, once they are aware that we want to do that, I am sure that the man who is president there will have a rethink because they are our neighbors,” Arise said.
“Yes, we should be friendly with our neighbors, but at the same time, we should let them know that they can’t be messing with our country”.
DAILY POST reports that Burkina Faso, alongside Mali and Niger, is under military rule and is part of the Confederation of Sahel States (AES), a breakaway regional bloc formed after exiting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
