In an new interview with Bloomberg TV aired on Saturday,Former president Olusegun Obasanjo said President Jonathan didn't believe girls were really kidnapped..
“On the kidnapping or abduction, the President did not believe that those girls were abducted for almost 18 days. If the President got the information within 12 hours of the act and he reacted immediately, I believe those girls would have been rescued within 24 hours, maximum, 48 hours.Don’t forget, they are almost 300 girls. The logistics of moving them is something (delay the sect would have encountered). Unfortunately, the President had doubts; ‘Is this true? Is this a ploy by some people who don’t want me to be President again, who is doing this?’I think that was unfortunate aspect of the whole exercise or situation.”On his alleged recent meeting with Boko Haram,he said.,..
People have forgotten that three years ago, I went to Maiduguri. That was when Boko Haram attacked the United Nations building in Abuja and they accepted responsibility.Then, I went to Abuja to meet security leaders, the Inspector-General of Police and the National Security Adviser to know what is their (Boko Haram’s) objectives. Do they have grievances? Can we reach out to them? The feeling I got was that ‘they are a bunch of riff-raff; just forget about them.I then went to the President and asked if I could take it upon myself for a fact-finding visit. I want to find out things. The President was gracious and said ‘I trust your judgment. You can do thatI could not do that without people leading me. There was a lawyer who knew most of them (insurgents) and their leaders. He acted as proxy to talk to them and talk to me. He communicated my arguments, my ideas and my questions to them.I reported to the two most important principals – the state governor and President at that time. I believe that if action had been taken at that time, as recommended, maybe we would have gotten to this stage.”
