ABUJA, Nigeria – In a recent development, the Presidency announced on Thursday, April 27, 2023, that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has effectively subdued insurgency in the country.
Simultaneously, it pleaded for understanding regarding the unresolved case of the Chibok schoolgirls who Boko Haram insurgents kidnaped in April 2014.
The brutal Boko Haram insurgency, which began in 2009 in Borno State, has claimed thousands of lives over the years.
Femi Adesina, the special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, stated that the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents had significantly reduced since 2015.
“Can you say insurgency is still what it was before 2015 when they killed people in thousands and seized control of many local governments in Borno State?” Adesina posed.
He further noted that the situation is not as dire as it was when Buhari assumed power in 2015, with the number of casualties significantly declining.
“Remember that in 2014 alone, over 7,000 persons were lost to insurgency, whereas in 2022, a little over 2,000 died from Boko Haram attacks. To lose just one soul is already bad enough. But we cannot say we are still where we were before 2015 when this government assumed office,” he stated.
Adesina also commented on the President’s administration’s efforts to rescue the kidnapped Chibok girls. He asserted that the Buhari administration should not be solely blamed for not rescuing all the kidnapped girls.
“In 2015, we knew where Nigeria was, today we know where we are, 276 school girls were spirited away, about 57 escaped immediately, and over 100 have been returned by the administration. But then, if a government came in when the trail was already cold and you couldn’t trace where the girls were taken, you can’t then blame it solely for not bringing them back,” Adesina defended.
He further encouraged the incoming government to take up the responsibility of recovering the remaining Chibok girls. “Because government is a continuum, the incoming government, if it recovers more of those girls, the country will gladly receive them,” Adesina said.
Lastly, Adesina clarified that many promises made to Nigerians in 2015, including revamping the economy, agriculture, infrastructure, and fighting corruption, were unknown to President Buhari.
“What happened in 2015 was that there was a rash of documents passing off as the party’s manifesto,” he concluded.
