by Azubuike Azikiwe

President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that his administration underestimated the capability of terrorist sect, Boko Haram.

In an interview published on ThisDay Newspapers on Sunday, February 22, Jonathan stated that the menace of the insurgents has affected his government more than any other shortcoming.

He said: “I think the thing that has brought this government down with both Nigerians and non-Nigerians, is the issue of Boko Haram. One thing is that terrorism is all over the world, but they believe that we did not handle it the way we were supposed to handle it.”

“Probably at the beginning, we and I mean myself and the team, we underrated the capacity of the Boko Haram. Capacity not in terms of what they have in Nigeria, but their international linkages, we underrated that and thought that we were dealing with some local elements that we could overrun.”

Speaking further, the President also revealed that the security chiefs also underrated the capacity of the militants. He, however, added that they have now realized what needs to be done and have also purchased the needed arms and ammunition to effectively tackle Boko Haram.

“Many of the security chiefs had made statements that later on you people took them up on. That shows they underestimated their capacity. We’ve now realised that the handshake had gone above the elbow and so we have to move fully and that’s why we are running round to get the right military equipments we need.”

“Somehow we could not get them early enough, and now it has moved too close to the election. But with what is happening now, in the next two weeks, that is three weeks into the six weeks, God willing, Nigerians will be happy with what the military has done in the North-east.”

Kolapo Olapoju