TheCable

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, says the Boko Haram attacks in the north-east has only been within Borno state since President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in 2015.

The minister said this while speaking at the commencement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign for the 2019 elections.

The programme held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital, on Friday.

Amaechi said the APC had made progress in securing the country, adding that change does not come without some measure of pains.

“I’ve been silent for a very long time and the reason you have not heard from me is that you don’t talk while you’re busy; we’ve been extremely busy in the past four years,” he said.

“About this time four years ago, we were running round, begging Nigerians to change the leadership of the country. We promised just three things; to improve on the economy, to enhance security and we promised to fight corruption.

“These are just the three things we promised. Anybody that says we promised N1 will be $1 must be a magician. Anybody who says we promised that fuel price will fall or we will bring down the fuel price must also be a magician. We are not voodoo economist.

“It was very clear what was wrong; we got in, and saw the challenges, we never knew they had stolen all the money. We thought they had conscience to leave some money behind. And when we got in, we were mindful of the promises we made. So the president gave all of us in his cabinet challenges to ensure that we rescue this country.

“Nigerians would agree that before we came to power, as governor of Rivers state, I could not sleep in Kano. I was asked to leave back to Abuja. Nigerians would agree that Kano was attacked, Abuja was attacked, since we got to government to now, any attack from Boko Haram has always been in Borno and not outside Borno. So have we made any improvement in security? The answer is yes.”

TheCable fact checkers are disputing the minister’s claim and have identified a series of attacks in Adamawa and Yobe states between 2015 and now.