•As Tinubu vows to end menace
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, have decried the onslaught of Boko Haram insurgents in the country.
This is coming on the heels of President Bola Tinubu’s assurance of his administration’s commitment to addressing the challenge.
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The quartet spoke at the unveiling of the book “‘Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum,” authored by a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Lucky Irabor, in Abuja.
Obasanjo complained that Boko Haram had become part and parcel of Nigerians, urging that Nigeria must rise to the occasion to stem the tide.
Obasanjo who was the chairman of the event, called for more critical discussions to proffer solutions to the Boko Haram menace in Nigeria.
He said: “Boko Haram is now virtually becoming part of our life. Should we accept that? If we should not accept it, what should we do?
“How much do we know? Even from the other side, and from this side, have we been active enough? Have we been proactive enough?
“I think we have to ask ourselves the necessary questions to be able to deal with this thing that is now becoming a monster within our country.”
Jonathan, on his part said the adoption of the Chibok schoolgirls would remain a scar in his life.
He said he had thought that after leaving office in 2015, his successor, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, would curb the atrocities of Boko Haram, given his military background.
The former president also divulged that top security personnel play dirty politics with the fight against banditry.
He added that with time Nigeria would know the truth about his reign and the fight against insurgency.
“After leaving office, I realised that quite a number of professionals in the security services play dirty politics, but Gen Irabor is one person that does not get into that,” adding that for him, “White is white, black is black.
“I thought that immediately I left, within a reasonable time, late General Buhari was going to wipe them out. But even today, the Boko Haram is still there. So the issue of Boko Haram is a little more complex than sometimes we can just show.
“But probably one day, I pray that some of the Boko Haram leaders may be literate enough to document what they have done so that people will really know what they wanted because it is like the story of the Nigerian civil war.”
Bishop Kukah warned the country to change its tactics in combating insurgency, and to earn the respect of Nigerians.
He charged the soldiers to return to the barracks to change the mindset of Nigerians.
However, President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, assured that he remained committed to wiping out bandits.
“We are invited to explore the root causes of insecurity to examine the devastation and to consider a pathway to a safer and more united Nigeria.”
The author, Lucky Irabor, said his attempt was to document his experiences as the Chief of Defence Staff and how the country could tackle Boko Haram.
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