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.