Former Governor of Jigawa State, Aminu Sule Lamido and the Senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, has reacted to comment made by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo had stated that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration strengthened Boko Haram by paying ransoms which they have continuously denied. He said:
“They have both incubated and developed beyond what Nigeria can handle alone. They are now combined and internationalized with ISIS in control. It is no longer an issue of lack of education and lack of employment for our youths in Nigeria which it began as, it is now West African fulanization, African Islamization and global organized crimes of human trafficking, money laundering, drug trafficking, gun trafficking, illegal mining and regime change.
“Yet, we could have dealt with both earlier, and nip them in the bud, but Boko Haram boys were seen as rascals not requiring serious attention in administering holistic measures of stick and carrot. And when we woke up to the reality, it was turned to industry for all and sundry to supply materials and equipment that were already outdated and that were not fit for active military purpose.
“Soldiers were poorly trained for the unusual mission, poorly equipped, poorly motivated, poorly led and made to engage in propaganda rather than achieving results. Intelligence was poor and governments embarked on games of denials while paying ransoms which strengthened the insurgents and yet governments denied payments of ransoms. Today, the insecurity issue has gone beyond the wit and capacity of Nigerian Government or even West African Governments”.
Alhaji Sule Lamido, in reaction through a statement issued by his media aide, Mansur Ahmed, called on Obasanjo not to allow his disappointment with Buhari-led administration turn him to a bigot.
Lamido, who also served as Obasanjo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, from 1999 to 2003, further said “as leaders, like I have been saying, we should never act in anger because if we do, it can hurt. He added:
“I therefore call on our boss, Obasanjo, not to let his disappointment with the sitting president turn him into a bigot. He must not abandon the national stage.”
“The cracks along the various divides in our National cohesion are already turning into huge gorges,” Mr Lamido said.
Senato Shehu Sani, on his own part said there is no such thing as ‘fulanization’ agenda orchestrated to have the Fulani tribe dominate Africa.
In a Twitter post, Shehu Sanu debunked the claim that Buhari is supporting insurgents and noted that there are alleged issues of nepotism under Buhari’s government like preceding administrations.
https://twitter.com/ShehuSani/status/1130021978579066880
He wrote:
“It’s true that the insurgents have a theocratic agenda, but it’s a mirage.
“It’s not true that the President is supporting the insurgents to achieve that.
“There is also nothing like ‘Fulanization’. But nepotism is a reality, like other previous administrations.”