QUOTE How to curb insurgency, by Tinubu
“With 13 per cent being given the South-South, with the NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta, the SURE-P, the Amnesty and normal allocations to the states, I advise we make haste slowly in asking for more to be given. I believe
that the timing of the request is wrong although the request is good” - A leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has tasked President Goodluck Jonathan to develop “a grand strategy” to stamp out the recurring incidents of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.
Tinubu said the tempo and consistency of attacks suggests that “government’s approach is not only tepid but wrongminded”.
He said, “Enough of excuses and lies. The Jonathan administration must develop a grand strategy to bind this menace,” and insisted that the nation had “reached a point where uncertain policies and half measures do not suffice.”
The APC Leader bared his mind in Ogbomoso, Oyo State on the occasion of his investiture as the Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) during which he stated that by their actions, ”the terrorist have declared war not only against government but against the whole of us.”
He said the recent tragedy in Nyanya, coupled with the wholesale abduction of the female students in Borno State had revealed that the nation’s intelligence agencies need surgical operation.
Tinubu declared: “Such a vast operation should not have been able to occur without our intelligence services getting a hint that a massive kidnapping was underway. We need to do much better at this aspect. The opposition of the people will be what defeats Boko Haram in the end.
“Government must put in place, immediate and meaningful relief for all persons whose property and livelihood has been affected by this menace. This relief is required to assist citizens to restart their lives while the government makes effort to ensure that the menace is permanently removed. Here, government must ply the road of economic reform and development assistance to these areas.”
Commenting on the state of the national economy with its attendant mass unemployment, Senator Tinubu faulted the recently announced figures of the country’s rebased GDP which has reportedly leaped over South Africa to become the largest economy in Africa submitting that “the magical statistics do not translate into a magical improvement in the people’s economic condition.”
Tinubu lashed out at President Jonathan’s administration saying it is permissive of corruption in high places adding that “the Federal Government is engaged in a curious war against corruption.”
He expressed doubts if the Federal Government would allow for free and fair elections, if the balloting during last year’s vote on the chairmanship of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum should be considered.