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Monday 3 November 2014
Atiku Abubakar, Former Vice President Speaks On Boko Haram’s Capture Of Mubi
Atiku, who is the Turakin Adamawa, released a
statement detailing the devastation that Boko
Haram has wrought on the town and other
communities in the North-East.
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has
spoken out on the recent mayhem in Mubi,
Adamawa State unleashed by terrorist sect, Boko
Haram.
Atiku, who is the Turakin Adamawa, released a
statement detailing the devastation that Boko
Haram has wrought on the town and other
communities in the North-East.
The former VP delivered the statement at the
Transcorp Hotel in Abuja on Monday 3 November,
2014.
Read it below:
It is with deep regret that I came to learn that
Mubi, which is one the largest towns in Adamawa
State of northeast Nigeria, has been taken by the
terrorist group commonly known as Boko Haram.
As you may know, in recent weeks and months,
Mubi has been a town to which displaced persons
from further north have fled for safety after their
communities fell to Boko Haram. As I speak, the
inhabitants of Mubi, together with those who
went there for safety, find themselves at the
mercy of this terrorist group.
I am Nigerian. I believe in the integrity of Nigeria
as a whole, and every part of this country matters
to me. But I was born and bred in the northeast.
So, please, excuse me if I should say a few words
about the part of the country where I am from,
about what the people from the northeast of
Nigeria have had to suffer for far, far too long.
Things should never have got to this stage.
Thousands of Nigerians have had to flee their
homes. Their houses and farms have been
destroyed. They do not know where to go or how
to restart their lives. That is the degree to which
we have come in this country. I say this with
reluctance and with shame. The situation in
which we find ourselves today is grave. Much of
Borno, and the north of Adamawa and Yobe
states is already at the mercy of the terrorists. It
started a few months ago with Bama, which is
nearly 400 kilometres from Yola, capital of
Adamawa State.
The next major town to be taken by terrorists was
Gwoza, where a terrorist caliphate flag has long
been hoisted. Smaller towns near Gwoza such as
Pulka and Limankra are equally not free. Next
was Madagali. The town is still being occupied.
Then fell Gulak. Next was Michika, then Bazza.
Next was the twin town of Uba which is half
Adamawa and half Bornu. Its neighboring town
of Lassa was also overrun. Uba was the latest
town captured before the terrorists trampled on
Mubi. People from these troubled areas are now
pouring into Yola for safety.
As somebody who hails from Adamawa State, you
can appreciate why I feel such emotion at the fate
of my people. For whatever reason, our defence
forces are unable to cope and unable to defend.
My sympathies go out to the soldiers who find
themselves in a situation not of their making. This
is a crisis of leadership.
We were told that the budget for security was
going to be enlarged so that the security agencies
and military would be in a better position to
tackle the insurgency. How is it possible that a
great nation like Nigeria should find itself in a
situation where a handful of terrorists is able to
invade a town as large as Mubi with a population
of about 300,000? How were the insurgents able
to so easily take a town of this size, and the
people find themselves defenseless and
undefended? How is it that the people have been
made to suffer as they have?
I have previously spoken about the deteriorating
security situation in this country on a number of
occasions. On those occasions I deliberately
restrained myself from speaking in a manner that
might be construed as distracting the government
and the security forces as they grappled with the
dire security situation. But the scale of injustice
the people of Nigeria are suffering has reached a
stage where I am obliged to amplify my concerns.
Many of our citizens, unable to come to terms
with why a so-called “Africa’s best army” has been
unable to confront this horrendous situation, are
increasingly assuming that this whole thing is
about electoral politics. They suspect that the
seeming inability of the government to end the
crisis is a ploy to weaken some parts of the
country ahead of the 2015 elections. Can we, in all
honesty, blame them for having those suspicions?
I call upon the international community to help
us. I am making a special appeal to countries with
sufficient knowhow and experience in tackling
terrorism to increase their assistance to us.
The relief agencies that are already working here
should please double their efforts. And all people
of goodwill should help in any way they can and
to do more than they have been doing to alleviate
the pain and suffering that we Nigerians face
through this insurgency.
At a time when we are constantly bombarded
with horror stories of ugly events elsewhere in
the world – here in West Africa, we are faced with
the Ebola epidemic and other trouble spots – I
draw your attention to a humanitarian crisis
which is also a matter of international security.
This Boko Haram insurgency has been with us
now for several years but has, in these last few
days, taken a step further towards being a
disaster of unimaginable proportions. Hundreds
of thousands of people are at risk. Nigeria needs
the world’s support. The world must not abandon
Nigerians in our time of need.
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