President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, January 17, declared that “Boko Haram is false” and that the organization’s backers just want to divide the nation by funding the terrorist organization.
The President made this statement when he met with Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, the President of the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum; on the margins of the African Conference for Peace, which was held in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
In a statement released by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, President Buhari recalled efforts taken to eradicate the Boko Haram ideology in Nigeria; and questioned why the organization—along with the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP)—wanted to split the nation in two.
“Boko Haram is false. You say Western education is ungodly. It is fraudulent. Whoever is financing them just wants to split the country. All the grounds they seized before we came have been recovered; and the rebuilding process is going on well,” the President said.
President Buhari, who had earlier been invested with the African Award for Strengthening the Peace, was described by the Shaykh as “a symbol and icon of leadership and integrity,” who would remain an inspiration even after leaving office as President.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, says the country needs an experienced hand to run its affairs and cannot afford what he described as “a greenhorn” to rule Africa’s most populous nation.
He made the comment at the National Economic Summit Group (NESG) presidential dialogue on the economy in Lagos on Monday, January 16.
Atiku noted, in a veiled form, that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot be trusted with power again.
“As head of the economic management team, while I was Vice President; I was instrumental in designing a private sector revival strategy and advocated for the opening of the economy for private sector investments in several sectors. And we made tremendous progress,” the former vice president tweeted on his handle.
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“I’m sure you still remember the good old days of rapid economic growth with stable interest and exchange rates; low inflation, low unemployment rates, and low poverty headcount. We paid off nearly all of our foreign debt which was crippling the country.
“It will be dangerous for Nigeria to relinquish their future to a greenhorn; or the national leader of the same party that brought us to this very sorry situation.”
