President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday assured the international community that with the cooperation of Nigeria’s neighbours, all the communities that have fallen to Boko Haram in Adamawa and Yobe states will be recaptured completely, while at least 70 per cent will be recaptured in Borno state before the 2015 general elections.
He gave the assurance while hosting members of the diplomatic corps to the annual cocktail and interactive session at the presidential villa, Abuja.
Jonathan while thanking the diplomats some of whom have helped the nation especially in securing the much needed equipment to fight the insurgents, as well as implementing bilateral trade agreements, urged that the cordial relations should continue in the new year.
“As an administration we are strenuously laying the foundation and structure of a stronger and more develop Nigeria.
“This is an interesting moment in our country. There two things that makes it interesting, first is the issue of terror. Nigeria is facing challenges like other nations, the current Boko Haram is one of the serious challenges.
“We recognize the real threats terrorism poses to our nation’s development and national security.
“The Boko Haram insurgency has today become the biggest manifestation of terrorism not only in our country Nigeria, it has become a regional problem. The activities of Boko Haram has shown that no single country can effectively tackle terrorism and insurgency alone.
“For effective and successful containment of this challenge is through regional and international collaboration and cooperation.
“We are therefore forging collaboration with all our immediate neighbours, sub-regional allies and even partners beyond the region to deal with this mortal challenge to our security and development.
“Just like we boldly dealt with threat of Ebola we are determined to decisively deal with insurgency and thereby secure our country.
“We are already beginning to turn the trend. Let me reassure you very clearly that we will surely win the war against Boko Haram.
“We are moving faster now, in the next few weeks the whole world will know that we are totally committed and that we are in position to save our people,” he stated.
On the second challenge facing the nation which has raise international concerns, Jonathan said, “The next issue that is very important now is the issues of elections. Of course you are aware of the colourful campaigns especially campaigns that are led by the key political parties the PDP, and the APC.
“There is so much of tensions especially when elections were readjusted. Initially the international community thought that readjusting the elections would automatically means shifting the date for inaugurating the new president.
“We insisted that for one, INEC adjusted the dates in 2011, the adjustments is within the constitutional provision that in Nigeria elections have to be conducted not less than 30 days to the inauguration of the president and not more than 150 days of the inauguration.
“Unfortunately this illicited some kind of controversy, ordinarily people suppose not to bother but for one reason or the other it illicited some kind of debates and some people started even doubting whether this administration is even ready to go on with these elections. Or whether another president will be inaugurated on May 29th.
“So let me use this platform to clarify this issue, that the adjustments is within the constitution and not just the electoral law. Elections will be conducted as scheduled by the electoral body, March 28th and April 11th. On 29th of May this year, the President will be inaugurated. You should convey this to your countries”.
On whether the nation’s security will defeat terror before the elections, the President said, “Security reason where alluded. Some people asked, will Nigeria wipe out Boko Haram within six weeks if in six years there were unable to do so. And I said no.
“The security people are not saying that they will wipe out Boko Haram before elections will be conducted. But there are Boko Haram related security issues and there were other security issues that was noticed during the period of campaigns which if we don’t prepare properly and modify the security architecture we normally use for elections, the country may go up in flames.
“So the adjustments yes the Boko Haram issues are there and definitely more states though for now three states are in the enclave of Boko Haram, whereby conducting elections maybe difficult.
“This period will give them (the militarty) the opportunity to clean up the three states. If at all they cannot clean up the three states at least two states will be recovered completely and more local governments even from the remaining state, so that elections could be conducted even in Borno state.
“Even if we don’t take over all the territories in Borno state, definitely in Adamawa and Yobe states we will take over completely and even Borno state the headquarters of Boko Haram, even if we don’t take over completely at least 70 per cent of that state will be free for elections to be conducted. Because democracy can only be meaningful if people are allowed to select who rules them.
“In a situation where you have maybe 30 per cent of people having voters card to vote, that is some kind of security threat. As at the time INEC was to conduct the election, in fact when we had the council of state meeting, a state like Lagos, Lagos is the most important state in this country, though the seat of government is in Abuja but Lagos controls 52 per cent of our economy, so it is a key state. So as important as Lagos is, only 38 per cent of those who registered to vote got their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs). And that points to some kind of dangerous signal which we must avoid.
“So when they say security issues it was not limited to Boko Haram and the security people didn’t say they must wipe out Boko Haram before the elections will be conducted. Even in 2011 there was Boko Haram and elections were conducted.
“So we will surely conduct elections as scheduled I promise you. So communicate this to your home countries that as scheduled and on the 29th of Mayinauguration will take place to bring in the next president of this country.
“Let me appreciate you all, most of you have done wonderfully well within this period that we are passing through this insurgency. Through you we reached out to some of your countries that we will buy weapons and different forms of assistance. Some of you had to travel back home to assist us in facilitating these transactions. And in some cases where we had issues some of you reached out to your home offices and in some cases go physically to ensure that we sort out things smoothly. It has helped us.
“We are now in position to tackle the Boko Haram and especially with the position taken by the AU, our neigbouring countries – Chad, Cameroon, Niger are also keying in. Before this time, Boko Haram will create problems in Nigeria and sometimes go to northern Cameroon to hide, atimes they will create problem in Cameroon and move into Nigeria. Is always difficult for Nigerian security personnel to move into Cameroon because there was no international agreement binding force but now the barriers had been handled and so we will move faster and in the next few weeks you will witness significant changes.
“You can’t talk about wiping terror because it operates differently but when you talk of holding terrorisies we are more committed than ever before because of the level we have reached and the cooperation we are getting from neighbouring countries in terms of taking these territories back so that these internally displaced persons can be relocated into their communitied
“We raise almost $500 million to assist them but can’t be used effectively until the people are resettled because they are still spread in different places.
“I thank your countries for your sympathies and empathies in the fight against boko haram. With their support we will win the war on terror and conduct our elections”, he said.
Earlier, Doyen of the diplomatic corps, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Saharawi, Oubi Bashir, said the diplomatic corps were confident that the forth coming elections will be successful.
“Lets also hope that this 2015 will bring more development and peace in this country
“In this regard allow me on behalf of the diplomatic corp here to assure you of our readiness to cooperate with you in all manners that will ensure that progress, prosperity and development is guaranteed in this instrumental country in Africa. That is the essence of our mandate and our presence here.
“We are hopeful and rather confident that Nigeria that succeeded in overcoming major challenges will this time around also overcome the challenge of security arising from the terrorists actions of the Boko Haram group.
“This country is perceived by the international community and humanity at large as a peaceful home for all religions and shall remain like that by the grace of God.
“We are also wishful and confident that the upcoming elections to be organized in this country will be very successful and that Nigeria as in the past will pass the exams with a capital A plus”, he said.
