In an interview with International news channel, France24, Former
President Goodluck Jonathan, said that the current administration is
still using the equipment his administration bought while he was in
government.
The new government is working hard and I believe they are still using
the equipment we procured. The budget is still being debated, no new
equipment has been bought, so even those equipment the president is
using to prosecute the war against Boko Haram are those equipment we
procured and I believe that with what we left behind and the new ones
they will acquire, this issue of Boko Haram will be taken to a logical
conclusion.
When Boko Haram started in Nigeria, we had no
terror experience. Yes we had armed robbery and other common crimes, but
terrorism was different because the people involved were not afraid to
die. So, you need a different mechanism to confront terrorism, you need
superior technology, so that you will be able to stop them even before
the attack. We never had the equipment, but when we were confronted, we
started acquiring and before I left office we built reasonable capacity
and I believe with what we left behind and also with what the new
government will acquire, they will be able to prosecute this terror war
to a reasonable conclusion” he said
When asked to speak on the ongoing $2.1 billion arms deal scandal, Jonathan said
"This issue always comes up but I always insist that the matters are
being investigated and they are in our own courts and in Nigeria where
our issues are before the courts, you don't make comments on it. It is
considered prejudice. But one thing you will also realize is that for
us to have conducted elections across the country, all parts of the
country, that means that we prosecuted the war against Boko Haram to a
reasonable level. Otherwise, we couldn't have been in position to
conduct elections across the country and we couldn't have fought Boko
Haram with bare hands. This issues of corruption, issues of misuse of
funds, being investigated before the courts and I wouldn't want to
compromise the position of our laws because while I served as the
President of Nigeria, I made sure that the judiciary had their own
independence. I made sure that there is maximum separation of powers
between all arms of government. So haven left office, I don't think I
will be the person that will say things that will be detrimental to the
judicial processes" he said
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