FORMER Federal Commissioner for information and South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark has taken a swipe at the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed for saying that if not for President Muhammadu Buhari, terrorists would have declared Nigeria as an Islamic state.
Clark who warned Lai Mohammed against garbing himself with propagandists toga as if he was still the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, urged him to use his office to build bridges among Nigerians, adding that it is not true that President Buhari expelled Boko Haram of 14 Local Government Areas of Borno State.
According to the Elder statesman, it was former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration that flushed out Boko Haram insurgents just before the 2015 general elections from the 14 local government areas they held in Borno state as against the claims by the Minister of information, adding that lies are being fabricated against the former President
According him in a statement in Abuja yesterday, he “said the minister’ s recent statement was fallacious and misleading when he declared that“Nigeria would have been an Islamic state without President Mohammadu Buhari.
“It is a blatant falsehood for Alhaji Lai Mohammed to claim that but for President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria would have been Islamised, that it was President Buhari government that sent Boko Haram out of the fourteen Local Government Areas in Borno State.”
The Ijaw leader said that what gave Mohammed the impetus to make the statement is the fact that “Nigerians have not dispelled this fraudulent and false claim that it was President Muhammadu Buhari’s government that expelled the Boko Haram group from the fourteen Local Government Areas of Borno State.”
“With all the menacing activities of this group, no armed herdsmen have been arrested. Is it by coincidence?”
Clark added: “Setting the records straight: It is pertinent to reiterate that Boko Haram was expelled from the fourteen Local Government Areas of Borno State by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government through the engagement of combined forces who were assisted by hired mercenaries.
Today, part of Niger State in the North-Central geopolitical zone is occupied by Boko Haram. The Governor of the State, Dr Abubakar Sani Bello, has cried out several times about this. The insurgents have hoisted their flags in parts of the State, collecting levies and taxes from farmers before the latter will not only be allowed to go about their business but also enable them to live in peace.
