Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar claims that during his and President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, they effectively suppressed the early emergence of Boko Haram due to strong political will.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday to a delegation from Kogi East Senatorial District, Atiku recounted the group’s initial appearance in Yobe State in 2002.
He shared that Obasanjo sought his advice on how to handle the situation.
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According to a video posted on his Facebook page, 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 attributed the group’s later resurgence to a lack of decisive action by subsequent leaders.
“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.
Atiku Abubakar served as Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 during Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency, in the Fourth Republic following the end of military rule.
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