FREEPRESS – Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday observed that the nation is winning the war against Boko Haram insurgency.
Obasanjo, who was in Maiduguri to commission some projects as part of the 40th Anniversary Celebration of University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), noted that since coming into office, President Muhammadu Buhari has evolved the right strategies in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency and the insecurity that have ravaged the nation for some times now.
The former President, who had visited Maiduguri in 2011 to initiate the process of dialogue that would make the insurgents lay down arms, said there was a marked difference between what obtained in 2011 with now, stressing that there is gradual return of normalcy.
Obasanjo, during a courtesy call on the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, said: “A lot of water has passed under the bridge in this part of the country. I must not forget to commiserate with all our people in this state and indeed the entire North East who have been victims of insurgency in the way we have never witnessed it in this country before.”
He said: “As I have said with the governor, I do travel a lot in Africa and outside Africa and wherever I have gone in recent times what people want to know is what and how Nigeria is coping with the situation of insurgency. Today, now I think we are not out of the woods yet but it would appear that we can see the light beyond the tunnel.
“There is no doubt that with the combined effort at the local level, at the state level and at the federal level and even at the community level, our security forces are on the ascendancy over the forces of destruction, the menace and danger of insurgency that we have experienced for almost six years now.”
He lamented that: “There is no family in this state that has not suffered lost,” and asked the governor to accept his condolence and that of his entire family.
He said Shettima and the entire people of Borno State have “shown what can be done if people resolve not to give way to evil,” adding that “we just pray for the repose of the soul of those that have lost their lives.”
The former leader, while applauding the effort of his present successor in tackling the mayhem of the insurgency, said: “Talking to the president about the issue of insurgency particular and insecurity in general, I know that he is very very concerned and not only very concerned, he has gotten it right.”
He noted that: “First of all, he has allowed for military ascendancy over the insurgency, he has ensured that where they have occupied is cleared of any mines, where you have mines lives is not only insecure, people feel intimidated for you never know when you may step on it, when you blow your legs or limbs off or in fact killed.”
He said he believed once the retrieved territories are cleared of mines, then the massive socio-economic rehabilitation and development of the whole areas that have been devastated and affected will take place.
In his remarks, the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima paid glorying tribute to the leadership qualities of the former president, insisting that the Boko Haram crisis would not have degenerated to the level it was if Obasanjo was at the helm during the outbreak of the insurgency.
He added that had Chief Olusegun Obasanjo being in power, the Chibok schoolgirls would not have been in captivity by now, lamenting that it took President Goodluck Jonathan 19 days after the kidnap of the girls to call him on phone on the issue.
Shettima said without the “Nigerianness in you, this country would have been divided along religious lines between 2001 and 2003 when hate brewed from the north to the south over our diversity of faith. Someone else would probably have thought of exploiting the sentiments and division to make political gains ahead of the 2003 reelection but not President Obasanjo.”
He added that: “Your Excellency, Sir, majority of Nigerians salute you; we adore and respect you and we shall forever be grateful to you for standing for the unity, continued existence and the recovery of Nigeria when Nigerians needed you most.
“We pray that God continue to keep you for us in good health and strength. May you remain the true elder statesman that you have always been who stands for what is right and what is good for a better Nigeria that all Nigerians seek and deserve.
“May God bless our country and grant us peace and progress!”
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