I won’t grant amnesty to Boko Haram –Buhari

The All Progressives Congress
presidential candidate, Maj. Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), on
Thursday, ruled out amnesty for
Boko Haram insurgents if elected
President on March 28.
He said the activities of the sect
which has so far killed over 13, 000
people since 2009, had become a
source of worry to many people
within and outside the country.
Buhari was at the Royal Institute of
International Affairs, Chatham
House, London, where he
addressed the world on various
issues concerning the rescheduled
general elections.
He said, “I think I will not go to
that office with that promise. I have
said in my address how, at least
13,000 Nigerians have been killed
by Boko Haram, how millions of
them have been displaced and are
now kept in different camps called
Internally Displaced Persons camps.
“Schools have been burnt, there is
so much disruption to normal life;
people cannot farm and where they
are able to farm, they cannot
harvest. So, granting amnesty to
Boko Haram will be unfair to the
system.”
Buhari, who described himself as “a
former military ruler and a
converted democrat,” however
stated that any insurgent caught
would “be given the chance in civil
courts to be properly prosecuted.”
He added, “We will secure Nigeria.
At no other time in our history has
Nigeria been this insecure. Boko
Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the
terrorism map, killing more than
13,000 of our nationals, displacing
millions internally and externally,
and at a time holding on to
portions of our territory the size of
Belgium. What has been
consistently lacking is the required
leadership in our battle against
insurgency.”
He accused the current
administration of allowing Boko
Haram to operate with ease by
failing to provide what he
described as “a multi-dimensional
response” to its activities.
“In the matter of this insurgency,
our soldiers have neither received
the necessary support nor the
required incentives to tackle this
problem,” the former Head of State
said.
Asked how he planned to tackle the
violent sect if elected President,
Buhari said his government would
“pay special attention to the
welfare of our soldiers in and out of
service, give the military adequate
modern arms and ammunition and
improve intelligence gathering to
choke its financial and equipment
channels.”
The former Head of State also said
his regime would look into the root
causes of insurgency “by intiating
a comprehensive economic
development plan promoting
infrastructural development, job
creation, agriculture and industry in
the affected areas.
The APC presidential candidate
gave assurance that the world
would have no cause to worry
about Nigeria any longer if given
the mandate to rule the country by
Nigerians.
He said, “Nigeria will return to its
stabilising role in West Africa, and
no inch of Nigerian territory will
ever be lost to the enemy.
Buhari also said the global interest
the Nigerian general elections had
generated was not misplaced. He
therefore urged the international
community to continue to focus on
the country at this very critical
moment.
The Katsina State-born general
expressed the view that the
elections should be conducted on
the rescheduled dates of March 28
and April 11 and that their
outcomes should be respected by
all parties.
He, however, warned that any
further extension of the elections
under whichever guise would not
be tolerated.
The APC presidential candidate also
flayed President Goodluck
Jonathan’s administration for the
poor management of the country’s
economy.
According to him, waste and
corruption thrive under the
Jonathan administration.
Buhari, who expressed his distaste
for corruption, promised to run a
transparent government.
He said, “There will be no confusion
as to where I stand. Corruption will
have no place and the corrupt will
not be appointed into my
administration. First and foremost,
we will plug the holes in the
budgetary process.
“Revenue producing entities such
as the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation and Customs and Excise
will have one set of books only.
Their revenues will be publicly
disclosed and regularly audited.
The institutions of state dedicated
to fighting corruption will be given
independence and prosecutorial
authority without political
interference.
“But I must emphasise that any war
waged on corruption should not be
misconstrued as settling old scores
or a witch-hunt. I am running for
President to lead Nigeria to
prosperity and not adversity.
Nigerians can be respected again.”
He said the rebasing in April last
year which rated Nigeria’s
economy 26th in the world did not
affect the lives of ordinary
Nigerians .
Buhari said, “After the rebasing
exercise in April 2014, Nigeria
overtook South Africa as Africa’s
largest economy. Our GDP(Gross
Domestic Product) is now valued at
$510bn and our economy rated 26th
in the world.
“Also on the bright side, inflation
has been kept at single digit for a
while and our economy has grown
at an average of seven per cent for
about a decade. But it is more of
paper growth, a growth that, on
account of mismanagement,
profligacy and corruption, has not
translated to human development
or shared prosperity.
“A development economist once
said three questions should be
asked about a country’s
development: one, what is
happening to poverty? Two, what is
happening to unemployment? And
three, what is happening to
inequality?
“The answers to these questions in
Nigeria show that the current
administration has created two
economies in one country, a sorry
tale of two nations: one economy
for a few who have so much in their
tiny island of prosperity; and the
other economy for the many who
have so little in their vast ocean of
misery. Even by official figures, 33.1
per cent of Nigerians live in
extreme poverty. That’s at 60
million, almost the population of
the United Kingdom.
“There is also the unemployment
crisis simmering beneath the
surface, ready to explode at the
slightest stress, with officially 23.9
per cent of our adult population
and almost 60% of our youths
unemployed.
“We also have one of the highest
rates of inequalities in the world.
With all these, it is not surprising
that our performance on most
governance and development
indicators (like the Mo Ibrahim
Index on African Governance and
the UNDP’s Human Development
Index) are unflattering.
“With the fall in the prices of oil,
which accounts for more than 70
per cent of government revenues,
and lack of savings from more than
a decade of oil boom, the poor will
be disproportionately impacted.”
He dismissed the persistent report
by the Ekiti State Governor, Mr.
Ayodele Fayose, that he was not fit
to rule, saying that his doctors had
declared him healthy.
According to him, the development
(fitness) will prompt him to carry
out a final onslaught on the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party.
Identifying joblessness among
Nigeria’s youths as one of the
issues that would grab his
attention, Buhari said, “Sixty per
cent of Nigerians are youths and
most of them are unemployed. This
is a problem we will tackle.”
Buhari also promised to provide
robust security for investors to do
their business.
When asked his position on Sharia,
he said, “The Nigerian constitution
is superior to any other law. Sharia
is on the same level as customary
laws. Sharia is limited and anybody
who wants to change this will need
to change the constitution. ”
The APC presidential candidate,
who had been variously be accused
of dictatorship, said he took
responsibility for whatever
happened under his watch as the
head of state between 1983 and
1985.
He said, “Standing before you is a
retired general, but now a
converted democrat I cannot
change the past, but I can change
the present and the future.
Standing before you is a retired
general, but now a converted
democrat.
“Nigeria lacks the right leadership.
I, Muhammadu Buhari will lead
from the front. I’m running for
President to lead Nigeria to
prosperity and not adversity.”
Pro and anti-Buhari supporters
almost clashed outside the venue
of the event but for the
intervention of policemen.
Both groups arrived the arena with
placards expressing their opinions
of the presidential candidate.
The anti-Buhari group, which called
itself Civil Society and Support
Groups-Diaspora, was said to have
been bribed with $20,000 by a force
against Buhari’s bid to wrestle
power from Jonathan.

It was APC that hired those people and made it look like PDP did it