Buhari To Deal With Boko Haram Decisively - Obasanjo

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the ex-Nigerian president, has spoken about why it is taking so long for Nigerian army to end the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east of the country.

Obasanjo said the reason is because the army had high ranking officers who are corrupt, and was also not equipped to deal with the militants.

The former president spoke about Boko Haram in a panel discussion on ‘Development and Security: Dealing with New Threats’ at the ongoing 2015 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Meanwhile, he expressed confidence that the incoming government of Muhammadu Buhari would deal with the Boko Haram fighters conclusively.

He was quick to add that Boko Haram will not be dealt with using the army alone but the administration also has to resolve the problems of underdevelopment and poverty ravaging most parts of the northern region.

He said: “The military was not adequately equipped to deal with terrorism and there was corruption in the high ranks of the military. I believe Boko Haram will be dealt but it will not be dealt with only by military force because we have to deal with the big problems of underdevelopment and poverty. But if you don’t do that and you keep on hanging those problems, they will be suppressed for a while  and it will be a matter of years, then you will begin to have Boko Haram in one form or the other rearing its ugly head again.”

Also speaking, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the chairperson of the African Union, noted that there was an immediate need to address the issues of underdevelopment, unemployment and poverty across Africa.

Nkosazana pointed out that with the level of unemployment in the continent, it is fast becoming explosive.

She said: “Africa is full of young people. If we don’t invest in them, we’re sitting on a time-bomb.”

President-elect Buhari will be sworn-in to the office of Nigeria’s president tomorrow, May 29, 2015.

Meanwhile, according to the latest reports Buhari arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in the early hours of May 28, Thursday.

The outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan has attended his last Federal Executive Council meeting and reportedly sacked his cabinet.