By Juliet Umeh
The Presidency said yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has subdued insurgency in the country.
It also said the government should not be blamed for not bringing back all the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents in April 2014.
Recall that the Boko Haram insurgency, which has claimed thousands of lives, began in 2009 in Borno State.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, said Boko Haram insurgents were no longer as active as they were before 2015, having been subdued by the present government.
”Can you say insurgency is still what it was before 2015 when they killed people in thousands and seized control of many local governments in Borno State?” Adesina queried.
Adesina said the insurgency situation in the country was no longer as bad as it was when Buhari took over the reins of power in 2015, adding that the number of casualties had scaled down considerably.
”Remember that in 2014 alone, over 7,000 persons were lost to insurgency, whereas in 2022, a little over 2,000 died from Boko Haram attacks. Don’t get me wrong, to lose just one soul is already bad enough.
But we cannot say we are still where we were before 2015 when this government assumed office,” the presidential spokesman said.
He asserted that Nigerians should not hold President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration responsible for not rescuing all the kidnapped Chibok girls.
“In 2015, we knew where Nigeria was, today we know where we are, 276 school girls were spirited away, about 57 escaped immediately, and over 100 have been returned by the administration.
“The ones that are left, I think 90-something, they are Nigerians, they have the right to be brought back.
“But then, if a government came in when the trail was already cold and you couldn’t trace where the girls were taken, you can’t then blame it solely for not bringing them back, that would not be quite right.
”Dachi girls were taken under the administration, and within the week they were recovered except maybe five, including Leah Sharibu sadly.”
Adesina noted that the government was proactive to tackle the kidnap at the time it occurred, adding that the incoming government should take up the responsibility to recover the girls.
“I believe that with the Chibok girls, we should rather appreciate God and appreciate the government for what was achieved. It is not as if the government folded its arms and didn’t do anything, it did its level best.
“Because government is a continuum, the incoming government, if it recovers more of those girls, the country will gladly receive them,” he said.
Adesina also said President Buhari didn’t know of many promises made to Nigerians in 2015 by his supporters, including revamping the economy, agriculture, infrastructure and fighting corruption.
He said: “What happened in 2015 was that there was a rash of documents passing off as the party’s manifesto.”
Source: Vanguard
