Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, led the Copenhagen Foundation team to visit President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa on Monday.
The purpose of the visit was to submit the report of a study on how Nigeria could win the war against Boko Haram.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Obasanjo stated that if Nigeria could win the civil war, victory against Boko Haram is attainable.
Obasanjo said: “Let me just let you know that I have come to see the President for two reasons. The first one is the one you have just seen. I brought a delegation of those of us who visited Columbia last year under the auspices of a foundation which I am the chairman.
“We went to Columbia to see how all the Columbian authorities were handling the issue of insurgency which had been with them for more than 50 years.
“As a result of that visit and the experience we had, a book was produced and I said to them that it will be interesting for us in Nigeria to learn as much as we can learn from the experience of Columbia.
“The specific thing is that they have been fighting insurgency for 50 years. They celebrated their 50 years in existence in May last year, in fact, we went there in June.
“So, we want to see what has kept them going, what has kept insurgency going? What has made the government of Columbia to make three attempts to seek peace, to end the war and insurgency and they failed. What is the new efforts that they are making? How likely are those new efforts going to succeed?
“Oh yes. If we won the civil war, we can win this one. But like the Columbian said, we are not waiting until we kill off every insurgent to say we have won.
“I believe that once the military has the upper hand, other measures that have to be taken will be put in place.
“There will be measures of socio-economic development, education, employment. All that has to go into the process of eventually winning the war and saying, ‘here is Uhuru.’
“The president must give a target. When you give somebody a target, you give him something to aspire to, giving him an objective. Target is not cast in stone.
“I believe that if you are talking of getting the upper hand, gradually, we are getting the upper hand.
“We are not there yet but we are getting close. And once we are getting upper hand, we move on and do other things.”
Obasanjo who was also accompanied to the presidential Villa by Columbia’s Chief of Defence Staff revealed that president Buhari whom he said had a listening ear showed more than fleeting interest in both the book and presentation.
“He was interested. You know that one thing you can say about the President is that he is anxious to learn and he has listening ears. Of course, nobody knows it all. A good leader must seek every opportunity to learn and to put what he learns into practice”, he said.
