In an interview,
President Muhammadu Buhari fielded questions from Aljazeera’s Mehdi Hasan on Boko Haram,
alleged abuses by the Nigerian military and his leadership of Nigeria .
Excerpts:
Is it fair to say that your country is in a state of
crises?
Yes. Certainly, we have been going through crises, which we
rightly articulated during our campaigns and we identified insecurity, problem of the economy,
unemployment and corruption. But since we were sworn-in, I believe positive
actions have been taken and the results are very clear. We have been able to re-organise the
military; they have retrained and are in the process of re-equipping and they
are certainly gaining ground against Boko Haram.
Is your target of stamping out Boko Haram by
December achievable?
You are entitled to your
opinion. When I gave the service chiefs the target, I know what was physically on ground. And maybe you will
like to recall that we have gotten the Lake Chad Commission on the ground,
comprising of Cameroon ,
Chad , Niger ,
Nigeria and Benin .
Nigeria is the main battleground and we have agreed to dedicate a number of troops in certain
places so that, by the coming of dry season, there will be a spontaneous
move against Boko Haram in their areas
of operation in the sub-region.
Boko Haram bombing
On the ground, physically, things are getting better. I have
just mentioned that after the re-organisation, we put new service chiefs,
retrained the troops at the war front,
re-equipped them and sent them back. If
you observe clearly, the area of operations is limited to two states, mainly
Borno and Yobe. Boko Haram has been reduced to using IEDs(Improvised Explosives
Devices) only.
There have been a thousand plus people dead since you
were elected. The situation seems not better than it was before you assumed
office.
Yes, we are being honest about it. Whenever there is an
attack and there are casualties, we mention it, we don’t hide anything. But in
terms of occupying ground, we are gaining ground and Boko Haram is now
virtually confined to Sambisa forest. They are highly disorganised. As soon as
the dry season comes, which is the end of the year, Boko Haram will virtually
be out of their strongholds and that will be the end of it.
What we cannot guarantee is the question of using IEDs by
Boko Haram may continue beyond the target that we gave, but attacks by Boko
Haram on townships, military installations, will certainly stop.
Repercussion of not meeting the December deadline
Something certainly is that I will not resign; I will be
determined to stay and fight it out
Chibok girls
We have ideas about where the girls are. Our main problem is
and what we promised to the constituency is that we want to rescue them alive.
There is the Boko Haram leadership that wants
us to discuss but we have to prove they are bonafide. They have to prove
to us that the girls are alive, they are well, and then we can promise we can negotiate. We will negotiate if we
certify that the girls are alive…
What would you offer Boko Haram in your negotiation?
Well, it depends on the negotiation with the leadership of
Boko Haram.
What are you doing as a President and a former general to
stop human rights abuses, war crimes and other alleged inhuman approaches of
the Nigerian military?
We promise to investigate and punish all those who are
responsible…
Are you going to prosecute the nine individuals Amnesty
International accused of war crimes?
I haven’t received the (Amnesty) report personally, but the
organization of the military is part of the compliance with the observations
raised by Amnesty International; if I get the report, I will read it. Although
you sound confident that I have received it, none of my certified spokespersons
have given me the report…
But allegations of war crime against the Nigeria
I want us to go beyond talking; all you are telling
me’s that the United States security
talked about it; Amnesty has written,
but I am telling you that I haven’t got the authentic documents you are
referring to. When I get the documents, I will read them and I assure you that those you are
guilty would be identified and punished according to Nigeria
law.
Boko Haram claims it supports Sharia law, and you have
been quoted as saying, ‘God willing, we
will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of Sharia law in the
country’. Is that still your view?
Nigerians, by their Constitution, have the right to pursue
any religion they want to, but there is a fundamental issue here, no religion
preaches violence. You cannot kill people in churches , mosques, motor parks
and shout Allau Akbar. It is either they
(Boko Haram) don’t believe God is great or they don’t know what they are
talking about. Nigerians understand that
Boko Haram is anything but Islamic…
We all know Boko Haram members are not godly as they
claim, but do you support cutting of arms, stoning and other strict punishments
as part of the Nigerian law?
No! Nigeria
law does not permit that…
And you do not want to change the law to allow stoning or
any of these brutal punishments to be brought in?
I cannot change it. I have not been voted by majority of
Nigerians to change the Nigerian Constitution.
You ran for the election on the slogan of ‘’change” and
you are a 72-year-old ex-military dictator. How are you sure about the change
that Nigerians want and can you guarantee that you won’t become a dictator
again?
I cannot be a dictator under this system. Like I told you,
the system we are following now, the people I want to be in my cabinet, I have
to send them to the Senate and it is up to the Senate to find them suitable or
unsuitable to be in the Nigerian cabinet…
You were accused of human right abuses in you first
coming as head of state. Do you regret those actions of yours now that you are
a democrat?
If there is any injustice that can be proved against me back
then, I will gladly apologise, but trying to stop corruption and indiscipline
is not injustice. In fact, my coming back now under a new system is because of my performance the last time.
You accused me of…but the people have seen discipline, accountability, order;
they want it back and that is why majority of Nigerians voted me now under a
different system.
Content originated from vanguard
Tags
NEWS