Buhari’s remaining 17 months enough to solve Nigeria’s security problems ― Presidency

The Presidency has said that the 17 months left in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is enough for him to bring to an end the various security challenges plaguing the country.

Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, made this assertion while fielding questions on Channels Television political programmed.

When asked if the president can end insecurity in the country before he leaves office in 2023, he said: “Nothing is impossible. I always refer to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. That rebellion lasted for 28 years. But one day, the mastermind of that rebellion was taken out. And that was the automatic ending of it.

“Those who are behind this, the insurgency will be taken out, they are being taken out one after the other and it will get to a point that the last of them will be taken out, and then we’ll get to the end of it.

“It can be done within 17 months that remains for this administration.”

The presidential spokesman insisted that he can be held to his worse on the matter saying “I believe so. It can happen.”

On the rockets launched into Maiduguri moments before President Buhari was due to land in the Borno state capital last week, Adesina said the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) intended to scare the president to abandon the visit.

He said: “It was some sort of scaremongering. They wanted to frighten the president away, but they had forgotten that this President is a retired general, they had forgotten he is a man who can stand his own.

“They thought they will succeed in getting the president to cancel that visit, that was why they, possibly did what they did. But we see that the President still went ahead with the visit and from all indications, it was a very successful visit.

“It is sad that some people lost their lives in that attack but it shows you the cowardly nature of those behind these attacks.”

Despite the ability of the insurgents to operate and fire rockets, the presidential aide maintained the administration’s position that they had been technically defeated.

He argued: “Well, let me start from the first aspect of what you said that we’ve had expressions, like, technically defeated in the past. Yes, everything that has been said is true. Because if you consider the nature of this insurgency from 2009, when it started till now, it has mutated in very many ways. And the current shape and state of it cannot be compared to what it was in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.

“No, a lot has been done to weaken them. The technical word is degrade. A lot has been done to degrade those aggressors. And we can compare what happens today to what used to happen, it is just a matter of ending this thing.

“That was why the president said in Maiduguri that we’re in the final stages of the war against insurgency and I believe we are in the final stages. And that was what he also told the security chiefs at the Security Council meeting, end this thing.

“It is starting to end. And I believe that with all Nigerians working together, cooperating and collaborating with the security forces, we will end it very soon.”

On the goals President Buhari hopes to achieve and how they will be judged, he said: “Well, the goal is when wanton killings stop. When we don’t hear of bombings. Today, we don’t hear of bombings as you used to hear of it in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. That has reduced drastically.

“But what the President wants is for it to end completely. Once in a while you still hear of bombs here and there. And then you’ve heard of two cases of rockets being fired into the city.

“This is to stop completely when they stop, then we will know that we are there. That is what Mr President desires, a conclusive end, a conclusive stop. Possibly a taking out of all the brains behind these evil actions.”

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