BUHARI BLAMES FG

Former Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has said that terrorism in Nigeria is not confined to the North alone and blamed the Federal Government for the state of insecurity in the country.

He spoke on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service programme monitored in Kaduna on Monday.

 According to him, it is the responsibility of the government to dig into the genesis of the Boko Haram crisis and know how best to bring the situation to an end.

He said “the world is very much concerned about two things, the issue of security and economic well-being of a nation. Security is number one. A nation can only be economically viable if there is security. But how did all these crises (Boko Haram) start?  How did the crisis begin and assume this dimension?

“The other ones (Niger Delta militants), who possessed weapons and had been abducting people and collecting money. Up till now, everyday they abduct people and collect ransoms. How was the problem reduced? How did it start and what method was employed to convince them to mellow down? Now, what we should look at is how did Boko Haram start and what was done to the group?

“We know all these. Security is the responsibility of the government. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to know how this thing started and how to go about it,” he said.

On whether he supports amnesty for the Boko Haram sect, Buhari said government should know their leaders.

“How many times did they come out to say these are the leaders…. even they once said Boko Haram has agreed that I should lead in the dialogue, but I don’t know them, so how can I do that when I don’t know these people and their mission?

“Where are they getting the terrorism skills? Where are they getting the money? Where do they buy the guns? Do they have sponsors outside who want disaster in Nigeria, to destroy the economy and break the nation? Or is it something else?” he added.

When asked how he would tackle the problem if he found himself in the position of leadership, he said there should be a pattern of administration in communities where any strange person that comes in is known and whatever anyone  indulges in is known.

“But do they even know what political parties people belong to, let alone people who come in and make bombs and kill people in the market places, mosques and churches? It is important to know the leadership and why this thing started and the way to stop it...it is necessary to know their leadership….in my opinion, what they are doing has nothing to do with religion, no religion that we know permits anyone to kill and destroy, especially the known religions in Nigeria, Islam and Christianity,” he said.

Source: Tribune