Good Governance, not military Force Will End Boko Haram Insurgency Gen. Abdulsalam tells Jonathan

Former military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar  has told President Goodluck Jonathan that only good governance and not military force will bring the intractable security problem posed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the country. The advice was given in Kaduna today by General Abdulsalam who gave the advice while speaking as the Chairman of a seminar organized by the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) at the on-going Kaduna International Trade Fair, General Abubakar urged Mr Jonathan to inject honesty, transparency and good leadership into his administration so that the country can make progress.

The former military ruler who spoke on the theme of the seminar “Combating Security Challenges and The Way Forward for Nigerian Economic Transformation”, cautioned the federal government to avoid the use of force as a way of solving the insurgency, saying that no country ever achieved peace using force for force.

According to him:“There is need to rely on good governance and accountability rather than using forces to tackle this security challenge. No country can be stable when its citizens are not secured and protected, government should make education free at both primary and secondary levels as a way of alleviating the suffering by the people. At the national level, unless the country can sleep and wake up safely, it can never make any progress, there should be good leadership, and there should be honesty, transparency and accountability in our polity.”

While also fielding questions from journalists after the event, Gen. Abubakar said: “We should be worried about the insecurity because it is a senseless act, we keep killing ourselves, we keep destroying our economy and in the long run we would have to come and rebuild it. It is a matter of concern that we look into what could be done to restore security. Like the lecturer was saying this morning, poverty is not an excuse for criminality and I believe most of the insecurity we are facing is criminal and I think all Nigerians should wake up and join the government in other to rescue this country because all these criminals are living amongst us and we should do our best to expose them.

“With due respect, the government receives all sort of advice through people like you in the media and through all citizens and you will agree with me the insecurity has considerably reduced, so I think they are taking action and I want them to continue that way. You know as a military leader there are certain things that you do and get away with it but when it comes to democracy you are accountable to the people so you must be very careful the way you handle things although you want to deliver security, you want to deliver the economy to the nation there are certain things you as a democrat must be careful.

“Who are these Nigerians who think that 2015 election is going to be bloody, those people who think the elections will be bloody should think twice, nobody hopes for any bloodletting in whatever situation.”