Until Everybody Returns To Their Normal Activities, We Cannot Say That The Problem Is Over:-Atiku on Insurgency

  Nigeria’s former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has lashed out at President Muhammadu Buhari over claims by his government that Boko Haram has been defeated.

 The statement is as a reply to what President Buhari and Nigeria’s minister of Information, Lai Mohammed had said about Boko Haram being decimated.

  In a statement issued on Saturday, Atiku said: “The
insurgents still occupy a specific geographical space. They
(Boko Haram) still retain the capacity for occasional deadly
attacks. Many citizens in the zone still remain vulnerable and
live in fear.

  “We cannot say that the problem is over until every displaced
person is able to return home, to the office, to the market, to the
farm, and resume normal activities.

  “We cannot say it is over until we rebuild the schools, the
churches, the hospitals, the markets, and the homes that had
been destroyed. And we cannot say it’s over until the survivors
of this insurgency receive the help they need, including
psychological therapy to deal with the trauma that they have
been through.

  “I visited an IDP camp on Saturday and had the privilege of
teaching a math class to some children. But the site of
hundreds of children running around and unable to attend school
was very gut wrenching. It still breaks my heart.

  “So we cannot say the insurgency is over until all the displaced
children return to their schools.

  “And, as I indicated last year, it would not be enough for people
to simply return to their pre-insurgency lives. We must do better
than that otherwise we would only have papered over the wound
without really treating it.

  “People must return to something better, to hope, to improved
schools, to improved economic opportunities, to freedom of
worship and improved inter-religious harmony.He added