Saturday, 5 March 2016

There are saboteurs in my government - Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has categorically stated that not all the members of his government are fully loyal to him and the cause of his administration.
Buhari said there are ‘certainly’ saboteurs in his government, during an interview with Al-Jazeera, which was aired on Saturday, March 5.
He expressed doubts over the fidelity of the government officials he inherited from the Peoples Democratic Party-led Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Speaking on the recent agitation for the creation of the Republic of Biafra, the president said Nigeria would not tolerate any attempts to secede.“People who want to be fair to us to sit and reflect; from the President to the ministers to the permanent secretaries, they were all taken over after eight successive governments of those who are now in the opposition. So, we cannot assume that all of them are 100 per cent loyal to this government.”
Buhari said those orchestrating the Biafra agitation were joking with security while adding that it was unfortunate to still be pushing the agenda after two million people were killed during the Biafra war.
He said: “At least two millions Nigerians were killed in the Biafra war. And for somebody to wake up, may be they weren’t born. Looking for Biafra after two millions people were killed, they are joking with security and Nigeria won’t tolerate Biafra.” 
Furthermore, Buhari maintained that he would not devalue the naira in spite of the recent suggestions made by the International Monetary Fund.
He said Nigeria cannot afford to devalue its currency, owing to the country’s heavy dependence on the importation of basic goods, and almost every other item.
“If it is against our national interest, why can’t we go against the IMF advice?” Buhari asked.
“I have explained that countries that play around with their currencies are countries that have enormous production capacities. They have factories in place. Their infrastructure, in terms of power, communications, and security, are virtually perfect. Nigeria imports virtually everything from rice to toothpicks. Now, if we don’t have the money to import those things, what is the value of further devaluing our naira?”
Speaking on the activities of Islamic terrorist sect, Buhari insisted that they have been largely defeated.
“I have not failed. When we came in, Boko Haram was effectively in 14 local governments. Nigeria has 774 local governments. They hoisted their flags and they said they had a certain caliphate but today they no longer have the capacity to hold any local government.”
“They have reverted to improvised explosive devices blowing soft targets, and that will be a kind of terrorism which will be difficult to eliminate because it is technological, but they cannot hold any local government again.”
“They are using technology but they cannot carry out organised attacks, overrun police post, attack military installations, they cannot do that now.”

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