TheCable

Former President Goodluck Jonathan says the current administration is prosecuting the war against insurgency with the arms which were procured under his government.

In an interview with France 24, the Nigerian leader said insurgency caught the country unawares but his government laid a solid foundation for terrorism to be defeated.

“The new government is working hard and I believe they are still using the equipment we procured. Though 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,” he said.

“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.”

Jonathan also attributed the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the loss of the 2015 election but expressed optimism that the former ruling party would soon gain stability.

“The PDP definitely will have some minor issues, it is expected… We lost the presidency and definitely we will have some kind of leadership problems. When you have a president, everybody looks up to the president. But when you no longer have the president, it becomes difficult for the party to have strong leadership.

“I believe whatever you observe will be sorted out. Leaders of the party, elders of the party have been meeting and all this perceived disagreement will soon be sorted out.

“Every political party has misunderstanding, it is not new, it is always there. From the beginning of PDP, even before I got to Abuja as a vice-president and president, there were instances when the chairman of the party will be asked to step down. And some officers leave from time to time when there are issues. So what is happening is not new but I promise you that PDP will stabilize.

“In fact, by March this year, we are going in to elect officers at the lowest levels of the wards to the local government, to the states, to the zones then of course at the national officers will be elected; that is just in March. So the party will bounce back, whatever you are perceiving, it always happen and we will get over it.”