- Blames Successive Leaders for Insurgency…
By Kolawole Ojebisi
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has attributed the relative success recorded in the fight against insurgency during the reign of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to the piece of advice he gave his principal.
Atiku said Obasanjo consulted him on how to nip the activities of Boko Haram in the bud when the group first emerged during their administration.
He spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during a visit by stakeholders from Kogi East Senatorial District led by former Kogi Deputy Governor, Simon Achuba.
The former number two citizen stressed that despite his advice, the strong political will of the Obasanjo administration to end insurgency should also be commended.
Atiku disclosed this in a video released on his Facebook page on Thursday.
Explaining how Obasanjo consulted him, Atiku maintained that his principal summoned him to a meeting when Boko Haram first appeared in Yobe State in 2002.
Atiku said, “You remember when the Boko Haram started in Yobe? It was actually in 2002. We were in office. The president sent for me. ‘VP, what do we do about this?’ Then I said, ‘Mr President, let’s call the Service Chiefs and give them a deadline. If they can’t put it down, then they should put down their uniform and go away. We will get some other people’.
“And he called the Service Chiefs, I was there, and gave them marching orders, and within a few weeks, they put down the insurgency in Yobe. It never came up again until we left office.”
Atiku blamed the group’s later resurgence on the failure of successive leaders to act decisively.
“So, I will say there’s a lack of political will on the leaders. When they’re killing your citizens, how can you even eat? They’re killing your citizens and you don’t give a damn; that is the greatest irresponsibility by any political leader, anywhere.
“So I hold our leadership responsible for all the insecurity that is going on all over the place,” he added.
Recall that Atiku served as Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 under President Olusegun Obasanjo at the beginning of the Fourth Republic, following the end of the sixteen-year reign of military dictatorship.
