Nigeria: Presidency - Jonathan's Incompetence Worsened B/Haram

The Presidency yesterday said the incompetence of former President Goodluck Jonathan's administration aggravated Boko Haram insurgency in the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu made the claim in a statement.

He was responding to former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, who said the Jonathan's administration cleared the Northeast of Boko Haram terrorists to make elections possible in 2015.

Shehu described the claim as untrue, saying it should be dismissed as an attempt to deceive Nigerians with blatant lies.

"The truth, as a matter of fact is that the monster of terrorism got bigger and more daring due to the incompetence and misgovernance of the last administration and no amount of lies and fiction can change that," he said.

"The claim as contained in a new book by a journalist is just another unfortunate attempt by inglorious Nigerians to rewrite the history of our country, in such a way as to cover the sins of the past. We will have to read the entire text to offer a full and adequate response.

Shehu said as of the time elections were held in March 2015, a number of local government areas in northeast were completely under the control of Boko Haram "to the extent that elections in those areas had to be moved to safe areas. The residents of areas such as Gwoza, Banki, Kukawa, Monguno, Bulumba, Baga, Gamboru Ngala, Dikwa, Mafa, etc., were able to vote, not in their hometowns but in refugee camps in other parts of Borno State, under special arrangements made by INEC."

Source: AllAfrica