TheCable

Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, says if he were the president of the country, Boko Haram insurgents would not have held sway.

Abubakar said this at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) while distributing relief materials to over 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).

“If you recalled,while we are in office in 2002, such a small uprising, very similar to this Boko Haram, reared their head in Yobe State; we smashed it immediately,” he said.

“I think it requires a steadfast leadership, a leadership that is decisive.

“For Boko Haram insurgents to have overran seven of the 21 local governments of Adamawa state beats my imagination, and the efforts I put in place that prevented Boko Haram from capturing the entire state is left between me and my creator.

‘I don’t even know my father very well. But, it does not prevent me from becoming what I am today. As an orphan, I will continue to identify with the less privileged ones in the society in the rest part of my life.

“As I clock 70 years this year, all my activities will be dedicated to the cause of the internally displaced persons, not only Adamawa, but in Borno, Yobe and other IDPs camps spread across the country.”