The sect, whose attacks have left hundreds of people dead, last month held out an olive branch to the government.
It, however, gave some conditions, one of which is that some eminent Northerners, including Gen. Buhari, should moderate talks, which it is proposing to take place in Saudi Arabia.
Yesterday, Gen. Buhari said he would not have anything to do with the talks.
“How can I represent the people I don’t know? That I didn’t believe in their cause and struggle. How can I work for government of Boko Haram?,” he said. The General spoke yesterday in Abuja after a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the political party on whose platform he contested the 2011 Presidential election.
“I do not know any member of the Boko Haram sect. I do not believe and I do not know of any religion that will go and kill people, burn schools”, Buhari said.
In his view, the Federal Government has lost control of the country’s security.
Said Gen. Buhari: “There was a stage when I mentioned that I agreed with one fellow, who said there are three Boko Haram groups – one of Muhammed Yusuf whom we know of. A leader of the military then in Maiduguri did what we know in the military about internal security. They looked for Yusuf and handed him over to the police.
“A healthy young man who died under a very dubious manner in the police custody. Again, his in-law was murdered, their houses razed down.
I understand that Borno State government had to pay compensation. The second Boko Haram are the criminals attacking banks and market places stealing money and issuing statements that they are Boko Haram and I have no regret saying that the biggest Boko Haram is the Federal Government itself, because it has all the powers to stop anarchy in the country. Now, the social part of the country has been paralyzed, economic activities have stopped. People are no longer thinking of employment, they are thinking of what to eat and how to go about the following day.
“Why is it that government could not do it with all the military, police and other security agencies and with all the resources available?, he asked.
Gen. Buhari also spoke on the CPC BOT meeting and the re-election of United States President Barack Obama.
Gen. Buhari said: “Today, we met and reviewed what transpired in our party from the time of the elections through the tribunals to the Supreme Court and the elections in Kogi, Adamawa, Sokoto and the by-elections across the country.
“We are done with all these problems and we have discussed how to move forward. Among the things discussed is the matter of merger, which has occupied the minds of most Nigerians as the only realistic way of consolidating the multi-party democracy system for the opposition parties to come together and fight the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I challenge the elite to go and do some research, from 1999 till date, how much Nigeria earns and where the money is.”
On Obama’s re-election and lessons to learn, he said: “The second coming of Obama is another big achievement for the US and we congratulate them as a country and as a people. He worked for it, he deserves it and he got it. His fundamental belief that the government is to look after the weak, in terms of the heath policies saved him. All are behind him and the system is working.”
At the BOT meeting were Buhari’s former running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai, CPC National Chairman, Prince Tony Momoh, Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura and former Minister of Works Hassan Lawal. among other.
SOURCE: 8 November 2012.
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