by Isi Esene
The Presidency is surely not amused by the spate of verbal attacks from former President Olusegun Obasanjo directed at the President Goodluck Jonathan.
Obasanjo recently made a statement saying President Jonathan has only himself to blame with the improper handling of the Boko Haram terrorism menace.
In his response, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak accused Obasanjo of engaging the use of force then turning around to speak against it.
Gulak said, “As far as the President is concerned, he does not take Obasanjo’s statement as something that is serious because the former President has unlimited access to him if he wants to proffer advice.
“If Obasanjo said what he said, we will just tolerate him because the other time, he said force should be used and he turned back to say dialogue must be used.
“Now, he is saying another thing. He is becoming confusing. I think the old man is becoming confused. The fact is that the insecurity issue started even during Obasanjo’s regime. It did not start with Jonathan’s regime.”
He said the Goodluck Jonathan administration is against the use of brutal force against terrorism opting to apply security intelligence in combating the menace.
“The security agencies are deploying intelligence. The culprits are being arrested and arraigned in courts of law. Bomb manufacturing outfits are being identified and destroyed. That is the best way to go about it and the government is doing so reasonably,” he reportedly said.
In a recent interview, Obasanjo had accused Jonathan of mismanaging security issues engulfing the country.
He said, “If the President is the chief security officer of the country and there is a security problem, where do you go for the solution?
“And if that solution is not coming from the chief security officer, who has everybody and can mobilise everybody inside and outside to get a solution, then he has the responsibility to solve the problem. And nobody else should be blamed but him.”
