In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation radio and television aired yesterday, Obasanjo said also that the rise of the insurgency could be linked to bad leadership.
“There is an element of that,” he said when asked if bad leadership contributed in propping up the sect.
“There is an internal element, which you have mentioned—inadequate education in the North, or in fact inadequate education generally in the country, inadequate employment opportunities in the country, all that are part of what, if you like, is remote cause of Boko Haram as far as I am concerned.
“But then there are also external elements. Now, the fallout from Libya, which of course as a result what happened in Libya, those that have been trained in Libya in the time of Gaddafi from other countries who are neighbors of Libya, when Gaddafi fell they moved out. They moved out with their training, their weapons and they started to wreak havoc on the communities in which they have moved out to. And that is the situation in northern Mali,” he added.
When asked if he meant there was a connection between the overthrow of Ghaddafi and the Boko Haram insurgency, the killing of the US ambassador in Libya on Tuesday and the instability in northern Mali, Obasanjo replied: “There is connection.”
He said those who masterminded the fall of Ghaddafi, as well as the whole of Africa, have already started paying a price for that.
“And we know that there will be a price to pay in the way that it all went in Libya. At the end of the day all of us in Africa, and all those who masterminded the way it happened will have to pay a price, and we are now paying the price,” Obasanjo said.
He said the Arab Spring was celebrated too early, as there are always consequences of violent overthrow of leaders.
“Now it was too early to shout ‘uhuru’ with the Arab Spring, and some of us said that. That look, what will be the final outcome of this? Let us wait and see. When you have violence and violent overthrow of regimes you do not know exactly what the final outcome will be.”
‘Boko Haram can’t win this war’
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said Boko Haram’s stated objective of imposing Sharia law on Nigeria will never work because of the religious diversity of the population.
“Now, talking to people who know the history of Nigeria, you will know that you cannot impose any particular religion on Nigeria as a whole. These people cannot impose Shari’a in the North where most of our people are Muslims let alone in Nigeria,” he said.
“Now, they should know that, and someone should make them know that. So I see a bit of naivety in that objective that they have given to themselves and it is an unattainable objective.”
Obasanjo added: “If you are prepared to kill more people, if like somebody says “we will fight to the last drop of our blood”, now, one does not know whose blood would be the last to drop. How many would they kill, how many of them will survive at the end of the day?
“I believe you should go with…you should carry carrot and stick, at the end of the day there would be area where carrot would work and there would be area where stick would work. And I believed the authorities are now adopting that.
“Those who are on the other side, Boko Haram, and those who believe in their cause or waiting for their cause, know that it is not the war that they can win.”
Daily Trust
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one thing i dont understand is that these guys know what to do but they refuse to act right probably because its still d same power-circle that is responsible for this insurgence. I dont see why Gaddafi should be mentioned in this. I see this as a ploy of our leaders.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, OBJ BABA u are an asset to Nigeria in some areas.From concerned Nigerian
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with ynu sir. But what you did not mention is why did the militants leave Libya for Nigeria in particular? Does it have a connection with our leaders or politicians in the North or the 2011 elections. Methinks the are all connected. Thanks Baba.
ReplyDeleteFaceles pple wth faceles objective wil facelesly get a faceles result, we ar all Nigerians! If dn't lik wht we do here, u can go on exile. I tel u d truth, boko wil fall soonest...and those who fuel them wil b revealed...trust me
ReplyDeleteI grew up to know Nigeria as a diverfy nation with muslims and christian belief in the same family and enjoying Eid and Xmas together as one family, it is really sickening how we have let religious fanatics to influence our great loving culture. I completely agree with OBJ, the western world should leave the middle east alone and let them manage themselves. They know how their own people better so the management should be left to them. Upon what the west did to outsed Ghadafi for them, they repay them by killing their consulate and burning their embassy down. West leave nation to deal with their problem please so peace can rain
ReplyDelete