The Senator representing Bayelsa East, Ben Murray Bruce, Thursday, December 11, 2015 called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop blaming his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for Nigeria’s problems, and urged the government to instead focus on delivering democracy dividends.
He was reacting to an allegation made last Wednesday by the president that the past administration was responsible for the continuing insecurity as a result of widespread diversion of funds meant for the purchase of arms.
Writing on his twitter handle yesterday, Murray Bruce said: “This is seven months in the life of this government. We have heard that our problems were caused by the last administration. Okay. Now let’s hear of solutions.
This is 7 months in the life of this Govt. We've heard that our problems were caused by the last admin. Okay. Now let's hear of solutions.
— Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) December 10, 2015
If we keep driving this car called Nigeria by looking at our rearview mirror it wont be long before we crash. Lets focus on the road ahead.
— Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) December 10, 2015
The solution to our problems dont lie in yesterday. No matter how much and who we blame, we will not fix our economy if we don't look ahead.
— Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) December 10, 2015
“If we keep driving this car called Nigeria by looking at our rear-view mirror, it won’t be long before we crash. Let’s focus on the road ahead.”
Similarly, the claims by Buhari that the massive diversion of the billions budgeted for ammunition during President Jonathan administration brought about the resurgence of insurgency in the North-east, may not have gone down well with members of the last administration who insisted yesterday that the Jonathan government recorded considerable successes against Boko Haram terrorists.
A source close to the Office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), told THISDAY that the president may have not been properly advised to have come to that conclusion.
While hosting members of the House of Representatives to dinner on Wednesday at the the Presidential Villa in Abuja, President Buhari had said there was an abuse of trust in the management of the “billions of naira and hundreds of millions of dollars that were supposed to be expended by the previous government to acquire good equipment and ammunition for the military.”
The president noted that the alleged mismanagement cost Nigeria a lot of lives and goodwill, stating further that “it reached a stage where the Nigerian military could not secure 14 local government areas out of 774 local government.
However, while reacting to the statement, the source stressed that it was wrong for anybody to claim that ammunition and military hardware were not bought for the Nigerian Armed Forces during President Jonathan regime.
The source who served with the former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, who is currently facing trial, said: “Despite the difficulties we faced in procuring arms from some western nations over alleged human rights issues, we still managed to source sizable quantities of platforms, weapons, bullets and other ammunition for the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force.
“The purchase of massive arms and ammunition in the last one year of the Jonathan government made it possible for the military to root out Boko Haram terrorists from all parts of Yobe and Adamawa States, leaving only about three local government areas in Borno State, partially under the control of the insurgents.
“These are verifiable facts about the situation before the last general elections. If the present government folds its arms and loses control of already recovered territories, it should stop blaming Dasuki and Jonathan for its own lapses.
“Let us also not forget that president inaugurated about five warships three of which were inaugurated the same day. It was the first time that number of war ships would be inaugurated the same day.”
He challenged the Buhari government to deny the fact that the Nigerian military was still using the arms and ammunition procured by Jonathan to fight in those problem areas, insisting that Buhari’s government has not bought any new arms till date.
“If the region had been under dire Boko Haram threat as this government claims, it wouldn’t have been possible for 2015 elections to hold in the three states, a feat Buhari cannot achieve today if elections were to hold today in the zone,” he also said.
