Agboola Bayo
Ibadan
National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to develop “a grand strategy” to stamp out the Boko Haram insurgency.
Tinubu said this while speaking at his investiture as the Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.
The APC leader declared that it was glaring that by their actions, ”the terrorists have declared war not only against government but against the whole of us,” adding that the tempo and consistency of attacks by Boko Haram had suggested that “the government’s approach is not only tepid but wrong-minded.”
Tinubu said: “Enough of excuses and lies. The Jonathan administration must develop a grand strategy to bind this menace. Nigeria has reached a point where uncertain policy and half-measures do not suffice.”
He stressed that the Nyanya bomb blast and the recent abduction of some female students in Borno state clearly showed the urgent need for a surgical operation of all the intelligence agencies in the country.
The party leader added: “Such a vast operation should not have been able to occur without our intelligence services getting a hint that a massive kidnapping was underway.
“We need to do much better at this aspect. Perhaps more importantly, government must do better to win the hearts and minds of the people in these areas. Once the people are convinced that government is on their side, they will turn their backs on Boko Haram. The opposition of the people will be what defeats Boko Haram in the end.”
He added that “government must put in place immediate and meaningful relief for all persons whose property and livelihood had been affected by this menace.
“This relief is required to assist citizens to restart their lives while the government makes effort to ensure that the menace is permanently removed.”
