By Ehi Ekhator, United Kingdom
The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has said that he will not resign if he can’t meet his promise to Nigerians to fight and defeat Boko Haram in December, 2015.
“If Boko Haram isn’t defeated by December, however I will not resign, I will be determined to stay and fight it out.”
President Buhari disclosed this in an interview with Mehidi Hassan of Al Jazeera. Buhari said that Boko Haram will run out of option during the raining season, adding that he is willing to negotiate to exchange Boko Haram terrorists for Chibok girls as long as they can prove the girls are still alive.
“As soon as the rainy season comes, which is by the end of the year. Boko Haram will virtually be out of their main stronghold and that will be the end of it. Attacks by Boko Haram on townships, on military installations, will certainly stop.”
Buhari claimed he has never seen Amnesty International’s June report highlighting abuses by the Nigerian military: “I haven’t received that report personally.”
When asked whether he would offer financial payments, or a prisoner release, to Boko Haram in return for the girls, Buhari did not rule out either option. “Well it depends on the negotiations with the leadership of Boko Haram.
“They have to prove to us that they are alive, they are well, and then we can negotiate with them,” President Buhari added . “We said it and we meant it. If we are satisfied that the girls are alive.”
The president claimed not to have seen the Amnesty International report from June 2015, ‘Nigeria: Stars on their shoulders: Blood on their hands’, in which the human-rights group documented abuses, torture and unlawful killings by the Nigerian armed forces and urged the government to prosecute a group of officers and senior commanders. “I haven’t received that report personally,” said Buhari. “If I get those document. I assure you that I will take action as Commander in Chief.”
Buhari has been quoted in the past as saying that he supports Sharia to be introduced across the country, but when asked on the Al Jazeera show, UpFront on his stands, the President said:
“Nigerian law does not allow for” so-called sharia punishments, such as stonings and amputations, adding: “I cannot change it. I haven’t been voted by [a] majority of Nigerians to change Nigerian constitution.”
Asked about his record as a military dictator in the mid-1980s, and the alleged human-rights abuses which occurred on his watch, Buhari said: “If there is any injustice that can be proved against me when I was there, I will gladly apologize.” The president refused, however, to concede that his now-notorious ‘war against indiscipline’ in the 1980s featured any such “injustice.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnIt2zk8y34
Video: I won"t resign if i can"t defeat Boko Haram in December - Buhari
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