BOKO HARAM IS YOUR BABY, BUHARI FIRES BACK AT JONATHAN

ABUJA—Former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, slammed President Goodluck Jonathan, describing the virulent sect, Boko Haram, as a creation of the present administration.

President Jonathan, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe had on Tuesday challenged General Buhari to persuade members of the sect to accept dialogue as a means of ending the orgy of violence in the North.

General Buhari, who apparently was angered by the Presidency’s attempt to link him with the sect, asked Jonathan to leave him alone and find ways of resolving the Boko Haram crisis, which he said, was borne out of the failure of his government.

Buhari, who fired back at Jonathan through the National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, noted that it was wrong for the Presidency to accuse him of not calling Boko Haram to order when he did not have any relationship with the members.

He also faulted Okupe, for referring to Buhari’s presidential ambition as inordinate, saying that the attack was ill-motivated.

Fashakin said: “It is unfortunate that a presidential aide referred to the legitimate desire of a statesman as inordinate. Away from the uncouth posturing of Dr Okupe, it is apparent that this fellow is conflating two unrelated issues and scenarios.

“If the people that initiated and executed the Niger Delta problem decided to resolve it, what can anyone do about it? The Niger Delta problem is totally different from the Boko Haram palaver.

“General Muhammadu Buhari has consistently asserted that the political Boko Haram, the most virulent variant of the menace, is a creation of Jonathan’s regime. So why should a Buhari that did not understand the genesis of the funding and operation of this lethal unit of the PDP-led federal government, now join in appeasing them?

“That explains why the Jonathan regime cannot talk about amnesty for Boko Haram because it is akin to appeasing self. As a party, we strongly advise the Federal Government to come clean to the Nigerian people. The political Boko Haram is all about the Jonathan regime and no amount of carefully-woven spin can hoodwink discerning Nigerians,” the CPC spokesman declared.

Buhari’s statement followed Tuesday’s call on him by Jonathan’s spokesman, Doyin Okupe, to lead the talks with Boko Haram to lay down their arms and embrace dialogue as a means of ending the raging violence in the north, which has claimed many lives and property.

Okupe had also asked Buhari to emulate the role Jonathan played by going to meet militants in their vast hideouts in the Niger Delta to plead with them to lay down their arms and accept the general amnesty granted by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua on June 25, 2009.

Source: Vanguard