Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has replied to Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, stating his party is in a better position to answer questions relating to Boko Haram insurgents.
Newsonline reports that Lai Mohammed made the statement in response to Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate’s question at Channels TV town hall meeting held on Sunday.
The former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who was a former APC member that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015, said he did not understand why the issues of Boko Haram has not been addressed completely by security forces.
Atiku said as a former customs officer, he has a good knowledge of the North East and Borno State where Boko Haram has been operating, adding that with sincerity, the insecurity ravaging Borno and the entire North East ought to have been tamed.
Atiku said, “I still cannot understand why we should have Boko Haram. You see, I served in Borno State in the North East and as a customs officer I was patrolling the entire North East, so I am very conversant with the vegetation and with the border areas. I still cannot find a place in the Borno areas where anybody can hide and cannot be seen. I cannot understand honestly, the Boko Haram phenomenon.”
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In a press briefing on Monday, Lai Mohammed said Atiku did not need to go far to get answers to the questions he asked at the town hall meeting.
He said, “Well, the excellency does not need to go far to get answers to his questions, he should ask his party, the Peoples Democratic Party under whose watch the Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009.”
Lai Mohammed added, “For six years, until 2015, when our administration assumed office and inherited Boko Haram, the PDP more or less nurtured the insurgents into the monster they later became. Alhaji Atiku should ask his party why it allowed Boko Haram to operate freely, bombing cities, motor parks, schools and other soft targets.
“Alhaji Atiku who was then residing in Abuja, before porting to his new abode in Dubai, should ask his party, the PDP, why it allowed Boko Haram to bomb the police headquarters, the UN complex, a shopping mall and motor parks in Abuja, with such ease.”
He further said the PDP presidential candidate should commend the efforts of personnel of Nigerian military who have cleared most strongholds of the insurgents.
“His excellency will want to know that today, thanks to our patriotic troops, military objectives have been achieved in the North East, the home region of Boko Haram thereby creating conditions for stabilization operations to take place.
“Boko Haram terrorists have been cleared from most of their strongholds, where remnants are being stuck in Lake Chad area that are difficult to access.
“While on the campaign trail, and throwing political japs, we advise His Excellency Atiku Abubakar to note the popular idiom that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones,” Lai Mohammed said.
