How Buhari asked Jonathan to resign over Boko Haram attacks in 2013

A recent call for President Muhammadu Buhari's resignation by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe seems to have left the Presidency unsettled.

Speaking at plenary on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, Abaribe said the Buhari-led government had employed the use of propaganda rather than addressing the insecurity threats head-on.

In his reaction, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, wondered why anyone would call for President Buhari's resignation.

He described Abaribe as an "arm chair critic known for making stray comments" against the government.

But, in 2013, General Buhari, a presidential aspirant at the time, asked Goodluck Jonathan to "vacate" his seat and allow someone who could solve the insecurity challenges take over.

These were his words at a press conference in his hometown, Daura, Katsina State:

"When the Niger Delta militants started their activities in the south-south, they were invited by the late President Umaru Yar’adua. An aircraft was sent to them and their leaders met with the late president in Aso Rock and discussed issues. They were given money and a training scheme was introduced for their members. But when the Boko Haram emerged in the north, members of the sect were killed.

“And when the police failed to address the insurgency, soldiers were invited and they captured the Boko Haram leader, Muhammad Yusuf alive and handed him over to police. But Yusuf was eventually killed, his in-law too was killed and their houses were demolished.

“In Bama and Baga towns, military personnel were reported to have been engaged in extortion and sometimes raping of women. And because a soldier was killed in Baga the whole town was sacked by the military. This is not the best way the military should have acted when they were sent to restore law and order in a town. How can a responsible government allow its people to be killed in this way.

“The soldiers are not expected to go and sack a town because one of them is killed. They are expected to capture the culprits for prosecution. After all the soldiers are not meant to tackle internal crisis but when it is necessary they should act professionally. Whoever is sent to protect people should also protect their integrity.

“Jonathan should vacate and give way to competent hand to govern the country."

The country's security situation has been a major source of concern to Nigerians all over the world.