A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has berated the Minister of Information and Culture, Ahaji Lai Mohammed, for saying that Boko Haram terrorism had been technically defeated.
Fani-Kayode said this in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari which was posted on his official Facebook page.
He said the statement by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that Boko Haram had been technically defeated was misleading as terror attacks had worsened in recent times.
The former minister, who insisted that he was a ‘loyal subject’ of Buhari, asked the President to return to his ‘gallant ways’ as this was the only way to defeat insurgents.
He said it was unfortunate that Cameroonian soldiers invaded Gwoza Local Government in Borno State recently and killed over 70 civilians but that the military failed to repel the insurgents.
Fani-Kayode said, “And yet you (Buhari) did nothing to avenge this affront or to defend our honour. What happened to the gallant and brave General Buhari that courageously led our troops into victory in Chad in the early 1980s?
“What happened to the honest and forthright man that we all admired and looked up to because of his military exploits in Chad? What happened to the war hero that gave the Chadians a ‘bloody nose’ for daring to attack a Nigerian village and that almost took Ndjamena, the Chadian capital?
“What happened to the man that proved to the Libyans and their Chadian proxies that Nigerians knew how to fight? It appears that you have changed and that you are no longer the man that you used to be.”
He urged the President to face the fight against insurgency instead of persecuting his perceived enemies.
He said the United States, the United Kingdom and other western countries refused to sell weapons to Nigeria because they probably wanted Boko Haram to take over Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt and other commercial centres in Nigeria.
He claimed that when the British Secretary of State for Defence, Mr. Michael Fallon, visited Buhari, the President told Fallon that former President Goodluck Jonathan bought arms with raw cash.
Fani-Kayode, however, slammed Buhari for not berating Fallon whose country refused to sell weapons to Nigeria which ultimately led to loss of lives and property.
The former minister claimed that Jonathan’s government bought arms with cash because of the refusal of western nations to sell weapons to Nigeria.
He said, “You (Buhari) forgot to tell him (Fallon) that his nation was one of the countries that not only refused to sell weapons to us during the course of this bitter conflict but that also helped to impose and enforce the international arms embargo on our country even though we are at war.
“Your guest’s country insisted on towing the American line and doing this to us even though we were fighting a war against a relentless, well-motivated, well-funded and well-armed fighting force that Global Terrorism Index has described as the ‘deadliest terrorist organisation in the world’. One is forced to ask: with friends like this who needs enemies?
“Given the fact that the embargo was in place, one wonders how we were supposed to procure arms unless we did so with raw cash in the black market.
“The alternative was to buy none at all, to do nothing and to allow Boko Haram to take Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Lagos. Perhaps that is precisely what your western friends and allies wanted but thankfully it never came to pass.”
Fani-Kayode also berated Buhari for not taking any decisive action against the soldiers that killed Shiite members in Kaduna State two weeks ago.
