Politicians Task Jonathan On Boko Haram

Some politicians on Thursday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to take decisive actions on the Boko Haram sect and not treat the group with levity.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the politicians argued that the group was not faceless and its members are people within the Nigerian society.

The Lagos State Chairman of the National Action Council (NAC), Chief Gboyega Oloye said the action of the sect was to destabilise the system and take Nigeria back to military regime.

He alleged that the goal of sponsors of Boko Haram was to ensure that Jonathan did not succeed in transforming the country.

“The President must be diplomatic in dealing with them. He should not use force against them because they are within the system.

“The only solution is for us to go back to true federalism where every state and region will develop at its own pace with nobody depending on anybody,” he said.

According to Oloye, once this is done, Nigeria will not depend on oil alone but will develop its enormous natural resources.

Mr. Godfrey Lemchi, Chairman, Lagos State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), advised the president not to handle the issue of Boko Haram with kid gloves.

“I expect the president to be bold in tackling this matter because members of the sect are not spirits but human beings that are not invisible,” he said.

Lemchi agreed with Oloye that sponsors of the sect wanted to ensure that it made the country ungovernable for the president.

Also speaking, Mallam Yusuf Buba, National Chairman of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), suggested that the only solution to the problem was amnesty for members of the sect.

“What was done in the Niger Delta that brought peace to the people and region should be applicable to the Boko Haram sect,” he said.

He, however, blamed youth restiveness on political leaders who were unable to create employment opportunities for youths.

Buba recommended that the recurrent expenditure of the country should be reduced.

“The government should reduce the nation’s capital expenditure to 60 or 70 percent and that amount should be used to create employment for the youths,” he suggested.