Boko Haram,'You can't Islamise - OBJ

From The Tribune

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, told members of the Boko Haram and their sponsors that they were living in a fool’s paradise if they believed that they could win their current war against the Nigerian state. Obasanjo, who was responding to questions on News Day on the British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] news programme monitored in Ibadan, particularly declared that they were naive to think that they could turn the into country to an Islamic state.

Describing such mission as an unattainable objective, he said they would soon realise that they were engaging in a futile exercise, in spite of claims that Boko Haram had vowed to fight to the finish.

“People, who know the history of Nigeria, will know that you cannot impose any religion on Nigeria as a whole. The people Boko Haram cannot impose Sharia in the North, where most of our people are Muslims, let alone in the entire country. “By now, they should know that. So, I see a bit of naivety in that objective that they have given to themselves. It is an unattainable objective and we need to win their heart and mind,” Obasanjo stated.

On the declaration that the Boko Haram men had promised to sustain their current hostility against the country until their primary objective was achieved, the former leader subtly dismissed the claim as he saw it as a tall order.

He declared, “Well, if you are prepared to kill more people, it is like somebody saying we will fight to the last drop of our blood. Now, one doesn’t know whose blood will be the last to drop. How many people will be killed? How many of them will survive at the end of the day? Boko Haram and those who believe in their cause will soon know that yes, it not a war that they can win.”

Nonetheless, Obasanjo listed what he termed internal and external factors that culminated in the birth of Boko Haram.

According to him, they included the failure of leadership in the country, inadequate education in the North and the country generally, coupled with inadequate employment opportunities.

OBJ & IBB sues for peace

Not too long ago the two of them were engaged in a nasty public spat, but last weekend former Nigerian rulers General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Babangida got together to issue a very important statement on the state of the nation. It was titled "A call for peace, tolerance and dialogue."

The main concern of the two leaders is the insecurity in the country and what they called the cynicism about the country's future that this had engendered. Their joint statement expressed concern over the growing state of insecurity in the country and called for scaling up of efforts to confront the security challenges. They also regretted that the growing insecurity situation in the country has led to cynicism among Nigerians.