Skip to main content

We didn’t address N’Delta, B’Haram terrorism early, says Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday,  said the extremisms of the Boko Haram in the North-East and the Niger Delta militants in the South-South were not addressed on time by the government before they  became monsters.
Obasanjo, who said this at a workshop in Abuja on the prevention of violent extremism, noted that the Niger Delta agitation grew from socio-economic deprivations.
According to him, violent extremism was one of the hindrances to reaping the dividends of democracy.
He said, “Violent extremism does not just spring overnight. For me, each of us has some form of extremism in us. What then makes extremism go violent? This happens when grievances are not immediately addressed. They go violent when they are left unaddressed or untreated. I want to illustrate with two or three examples. The militants in the Niger Delta did not start as militants. They started as people who felt they were not getting what they deserved within the economic and social millieu of Nigeria.
“I went as the Nigerian President and I was shocked about what I saw of the oil companies and the settlements of natives, where they had no water, no electricity, and no road. Their poverty was not addressed.
“When they failed to get attention and get their situation addressed, violence became part of their solution. The solution lies in developing that community.
“Also, the Boko Haram insurgents that are raging now, was started by Mohammed Yusuf who was normal, learned in Islamic religion and a good orator and preacher. When he was confronted with the poverty and lack of job opportunity for his followers, he decided to try and find a solution.
“What should we have as our narrative today? I have always maintained that it should be the stick and carrot approach. We did not have a stitch-in-time for the Boko Haram. It has festered and gone beyond Maiduguri and Nigeria and we have a monster. If we had tamed it much earlier with the right narrative, with the right action, the story might have been different.”
At the  workshop, which was organised by the Club De Madrid; European Union Delegation; Stop Violent Extremism Madrid + 10; Partnership Against Violent Extremism  and the Counter Terrorism Centre, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno ,  said all stakeholders must explore ways of preventing sermons in mosques from radicalising youths.
Monguno also said the Federal Government would in August launch a national framework on prevention of violent extremism.
Monguno said that the success of the war against violent extremism would depend on  “finding lasting solutions to the challenges of governance, democratic institutions, and a lack of opportunities.”
According to him, addressing security challenges demands a comprehensive regional and international approach that combines both soft and hard approaches to the threat of violent extremism.
He said that investigations had shown that extremist groups such as Boko Haram believed they were waging a Jihad war.
Meanwhile, the European Union says at least 25 out of the 27 local government areas in Borno State are affected by Boko Haram.
The Head of the EU Delegation to ECOWAS and Nigeria, Ambassador Michael Arrion, said this on Wednesday when members of the Progressive Alliance of Democrats and Socialists in the European Parliament visited members of the advocacy group, BringBackOurGirls, in Abuja on Tuesday.
While responding to a remark, Arrion said, “I am happy to tell you that very soon we will be in Borno to announce a support recovery and rehabilitation. We will be working with the Borno State authorities. I took your message. We know that 25 LGAs out of 27 need strong support in terms of rehabilitation. We will contribute to that, I promise you.”
Arrion told our correspondent that the North-East should expect at least €140m assistance from the EU.
Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has called on the EU and other donor agencies for more support to resolve the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the Nort-East.
Saraki, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, made the call when the President of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Pittella Gianni, visited him at the National Assembly in Abuja.
Copyright PUNCH.                


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DEFECTIONS: Why Saraki, Dogara Others Must Heed Sen. Ibrahim's Call by Comrade Nwokoma Ndubuisi M.

The gale of defections in the National Assembly last week was followed by an advice from no one else than Sen. Abu Ibrahim that the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara and others in the fold of the All Progressives Congress APC that are still masquerading in the party should resign their membership of the party. This call which also implies that they resign their positions as leaders of the various arms of the National Assembly is yet to be complied with by those concerned as at the time of writing this piece Whatever their reasons for still staying put in the party may be, the fact of the matter is that their continued stay in the party has become a sore which must be extricated from the body.  As I watched through the proceedings of the defections on national television, I wept for the country for producing such leaders that lack morality despite all the party has given them politically which they ordin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rivers Governmnet, PDP Disagree Over $280 million Looan

The Rivers State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party in the state are currently at loggerheads over the request by the state Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, for a $280m loan for water and sanitation projects. While the state PDP said that the latest request for loan by the state government was unnecessary due to the resources accruing to the state through the federal allocation and internally generated revenue, the government said it was not true that the funds were to be used for 2015 elections. The state House of Assembly had on Monday endorsed Amaechi’s request for loan for water supply and sanitation projects. But the state PDP, in a statement, signed by the Special Adviser to its Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the request for loan was aimed at punishing the governor’s successor in 2015. The party called on members of the House of Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the African Development Bank and the World Bank not to honour the loan re...
Post a Comment
Read more

2019: Northern youths kick as Northwest APC lawmakers endorse Buhari

The leadership of the Arewa Youth Forum on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve any endorsement for the 2019 presidency. Reacting to a purported endorsement by some serving All Progressives Congress’s lawmakers from the Northwest in Kaduna, the AYF’s National President, Alhaji Gambo Gujungu, said Buhari was not fit to return as president in 2019. The AYF argued that with the killing spree all over the country, especially in the North, Buhari should serve his mandatory four years term and quit the stage for another Northerner. Gujungu noted that one sour point about President Buhari’s 2019 ambition was his claim that the killings across the country were being carried out by “desperate politicians”, yet he had not arrested even a single suspect. The AYF president, therefore, said Nigerians should blame the president for the attacks on innocent citizens. The AYF boss who spoke to our correspondent on phone on Monday, said the President’s cl...
Post a Comment
Read more