Metro
Only serious flogging’ll bring BH to dialogue –Obj
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that now the Boko Haram sect is being pounded by the multi-national military coalition is the best time to commence dialogue with the sect with a view to end their terrorism activities.
Obasanjo said that the heat the sect was facing from the military at the moment could force it to dialogue with the government, even as he further stated that the sect has legitimate grievances.
According to him, “If Boko Haram is ready to talk, we should talk. But they will need to be pounded a little bit by the military and then, they would be ready to talk”.
Obasanjo who spoke with IBTimes of the United Kingdom at the global education conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, also criticized the response of the current administration to the Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the North.
He highlighted low level of education as a contributory factor. “We don’t need anyone to tell us that that is a problem: a problem of disparity, a problem of marginalisation.
“The response of the government initially was definitely not enough. When Boko Haram started showing their fangs about four years ago, the reaction should have been firm and unmistakable,” he added.
Obasanjo added, that “the false confidence of the militants to go into Chad, Niger and neighbouring countries has now led to a regional coalition of military, and that has been reasonably effective; it has not completely solved the problem.”
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