He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that Museveni does not get away with the comments he made about the security situation in Nigeria, following the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State.Museveni had said: “I have never invited the United Nations to guard our security. Me, Yoweni Museveni, to say that I have failed to protect my people and I call in the UN …I would rather hang myself. We prioritised national security by developing a strong army; otherwise, our Uganda would be like DRC, South Sudan, Somalia or Nigeria, where militias have disappeared with school children. It will be a vote of no confidence in our country and our citizens, if we can’t guarantee our security. What kind of persons would we be?”
In a statement yesterday in Lagos over the Ugandan President’s comment, Falana noted that Museveni was entitled to berate the Jonathan administration for its failure to check the Boko Haram sect.
But the frontline lawyer said Museveni’s comment was the height of hypocrisy, because it was an attempt to ridicule Nigeria in the ongoing war on terror.
He added that such unsavoury comment should not be allowed against Nigeria.
Falana said his position stemmed from the fact that Uganda, with a “prioritised national security” had not been able to defeat the rag tag Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, for over two decades.
The activist noted that though President Museveni would not invite the United Nations (UN) to provide security for his country, he had never hesitated to call on the United States (U.S) and other Western countries to provide troops, arms and ammunition as well as funds to curb the menace of the LRA.
“Just on March 24, this year, the U.S government was reported to have deployed “military aircraft as well as an increased number of troops to Uganda to assist in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the fugitive Ugandan leader of the LRA,” Falana said.
He added: “…Is President Museveni not aware that Joseph Kony has gone underground because he and his army commanders have been declared wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), an organ of the UN?
“Yet, President Museveni would never call in the UN to take part in the maintenance of internal security in Uganda!”
He noted that the Ugandan leader also boasted that he would not allow his country to descend to the level of insecurity that obtains in Nigeria, where school children have disappeared.
Falana asked: “Has President Museveni quickly forgotten that the LRA invaded St. Mary Secondary Grammar School in October 1996, where they abducted 150 girls?
“It is on record that it was not the strong army of Uganda but the vice-principal of the school, Rev. Sister Faresa who rescued 109 of the abducted girls.
“Several years later, President Museveni wrote a letter to Mr. Kofi Anan, the then Secretary-General of the UN to intervene in respect of the abductees, who were still in the captivity of the terrorists.”
Source: The Nation