We’ll rout out terrorists in the North East - Jonathan

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President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, assured Nigerians that the general elections would be conducted as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, expressing optimism that the security challenges in the North eastern part of the country which was attributed as cause of the initial postponement of the election date, was being addressed.

Jonathan

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony of four newly acquired warships by the Nigerian Navy, a landmark achievement in the last 32 years, President Jonathan stated that efforts were in top gear to return the north eastern part of the country to a level where insurgents would not affect the coming election.

Part of his administration’s effort to address activities of terrorists in the North east, he said, was the procurement of technical capacity to the Armed Forces, an effort he boasted was capable of routing out Boko Haram.

According to him: “I want to use this platform to promise my good country men and women that we will rout out Boko Haram. Our capacity has increased sufficiently and our officers and men are doing wonderfully well in the north. They are working hard day and night and I have directed that Nigerians should be briefed regularly. We have improved the technical capacity of our men; both the Army, Navy and Air Force and we are pleased with what is happening.

“And we must conduct our election as scheduled by INEC because within this period, we are convinced that we will return the north to a level where activities of extremists will not affect our election”, he stated.

He scored the Nigerian Navy high in the fight against maritime illegalities, disclosing that the volume of stolen crude oil in the nation’s water had drastically reduced compared to what obtained but, however, lamented that the only area of challenge was vandalism of gas pipelines in the swamps.

President Jonathan also stated that Nigeria cannot be defined by the activities of Boko Haram. He spoke, yesterday evening, when he met with the Yoruba Elders Forum.

According to Jonathan, politicians must put the country’s unity and stability ahead of their political ambitions.

“No matter what we want to do, that is those of us who are aspiring to run this country or even at the state level, first and foremost you must have a country.

“If we don’t have a country there will be no office to hold; whether it is the office of the President or office of the Vice President or office of the minister or whatever office, there must be Nigeria first.

“My position is that let us all collectively defend and protect this country and that is why I always feel bad when people make statements that expose Nigeria as if it is the worst country on earth. We are not that bad.

“Yes, we have issues in this country. Even issues of security, like this Boko Haram, because we are managing a very delicate situation. Sometimes people define Nigeria by the Boko Haram. Nigeria cannot be defined based on Boko Haram alone. There is terror all over the world.

“My belief is that in the next three weeks or so if we don’t completely take over all our territories, we would have handled the Boko Haram to the extent that it will no longer be a problem to the elections that will come up.”

Earlier, the President of YCE, Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (Ret) commended the President for the quality of leadership he is providing for the country.

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We’ll rout out terrorists in the North East - Jonathan