The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, said he found the inability to root out insurgency in the northeast strange, saying the much-talked-about Sambisa forest is not allegedly in existence.
Atiku made this assertion on Sunday during the People’s Town Hall 2023 series aired on Channels TV.
Reacting to question posed to him on the northeast insurgency, the former Vice President claimed he could not wrap his head around why it remains a problem, alleging that he is conversant with the terrain and no place worth calling a forest there.
According to him, “I still cannot understand why we should have Boko Haram. You see, I served in Borno State when it was in the North-East, and as a Customs officer and I was patrolling the entire North-East, so I am very conversant with the vegetation and with the border areas. I still cannot find a place in the Borno areas where anybody can hide and cannot be seen. I cannot understand honestly, the Boko Haram phenomenon.
“Sometimes when returning from Europe, 30 feet above, I could see a man walking in Borno State, so where is the place to hide? To the extent that they say there is a place called Sambisa forest. I have been there. I didn’t see a forest. It is just shrubs here and there.
“So we have deployed the Nigerian military which used to be one of the best in the world. They have fought, you know, a number of the international arena and they have excelled and here we have deployed them with their might and everything and we just could not eliminate Boko Haram. So I am puzzled. So maybe when I get there, I will understand, but honestly, I cannot understand the Boko Haram phenomenon.
“Everything is there. Politics is there, business is there, security, everything. Of course, the solution is leadership, strong leadership to deal with all these interest groups within the military and outside the military.”
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