President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau will be arrested before the upcoming general elections.
Jonathan also admitted that he underestimated the threat posed by Boko Haram.
The President stated this during an interview with ThisDay on Friday, February 20, in Lagos.
Excerpts below:
MR
PRESIDENT, Elections have been postponed following the security advice
of the military who have said they need to secure the North-east. But
the question people are asking is: ‘what had not been achieved in six
years, how is it going to be achieved in six weeks in the fight against
Boko Haram’ ?
In the Council of State
meeting when the issue was raised, after the INEC chairman spoke, they
asked the Chief of Defence staff to speak. He did not actually specify
that the elections should be postponed because of the fight against Boko
Haram. He said for the 14th February election, we could not guarantee
the security; he did not tell us that it was only because they wanted to
rout Boko Haram in the North-east.
So nobody is
saying that we must win the war against Boko Haram hundred per cent. We
cannot expect to win the war against such terror hundred per cent before
the elections anyway but we will not allow them keep all the
territories they hold. My belief is that by 28th of next month, when the
elections will be conducted Boko Haram may not even be in a position to
attack any town, God willing.
Shekau, in a video, just threatened to disrupt the elections. What is your government doing about this?
God willing we will catch Shekau before the elections.
A
lot of people see your misreading and poor handling of the Boko Haram
insurgency and your soft stance on corruption as having played a role in
driving Buhari’s growth in stature and giving you, an incumbent
President, a serious run for your money. Do you accept that as President
there are certain things you did not manage properly?
I
think the thing that has brought this government down with both
Nigerians and non-Nigerians, is the issue of Boko Haram. Probably at the
beginning, we and I mean myself and the team, we underrated the
capacity of the Boko Haram. Capacity not in terms of what they have in
Nigeria, but their international linkages, we underrated that and
thought that we were dealing with some local elements that we could
overrun.
Are you happy that Obasanjo has left PDP?
I
don’t like to comment on Chief Obasanjo, he’s my father. I am here
because God wanted me to be here, but God used people to do the work.
First
and foremost, Nigerians voted for me; at least I got the majority vote
and that’s why I am here. So many people played different roles.
Obasanjo also played some roles in my life from my days as a deputy
governor to get to where I am. today So I wouldn’t want to make comments
about Obasanjo. I believe overtime, over the years, Obasanjo himself
will begin to speak differently on some of these issues that are at the
moment being controversial.
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