The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina, has alleged that Nigeria would have been dead and gone if Buhari was not elected as the country’s President in 2015.
He made this claim in an article he wrote titled “Insecurity: What Buhari has done, and is doing”.
The Presidential spokesperson alleged Boko Haram who were advancing towards the south would have taken over the whole northern Nigeria.
Femi Adesina said bombs were going off like fireworks in the country on a daily bases before President Buhari took over.
According to him, the first thing Buhari did after he resumed office was to revive the confidence of the Nigerian military by reequipping, retraining and improving salaries and welfare.
“When he came in May 2015, what did he meet? A country that was almost in disarray, with bombs going off like firecrackers daily. The insurgency by Boko Haram was festering in the North-east, North-West, North-Central, with Abuja, the Federal capital having been serially bombed.
he continued saying, “There was Nyanya 1, Nyanya 2, United Nations Building, Police Force Headquarters, series of shopping malls, churches, mosques, and many others, all bombed, with many lives lost.
“The insurgents were already in Kogi State, almost overrunning it. And from there, where would they have headed? South-west, from where they would bivouac in South-south, and the country would be gone. Dead. Forgotten”.
According to him, some people have short memories for attacking Buhari over matters of insecurity.
“But some people have short memories. They say not much is being done to tackle insecurity by the Buhari government. Really?”
He then went on to list what he called a checklist of the breakthroughs the Nigerian armed forces have enjoyed in recent times:
He said, “Consider this checklist of breakthroughs against criminals in recent times:
• Arrest in April 2016 of Usman Mohammed, aka Khalid Al-Barnawi, leader of the Ansaru Terrorist group and one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, with a US$6m United States bounty on his head. He’s currently being prosecuted alongside his accomplices.
• Arrest in March 2017 of Amodu Omale Salifu, leader of an ISIS affiliate group active in North Central Nigeria, plotting to bomb foreign embassies.
• The arrest of two suspected Ansaru leaders, Ahmed Momoh and Al-Amin Mohammed Jamin, in April 2017 at Igarra in Edo State. The two were confirmed associates of Abu Uwais, a prominent Ansaru kingpin terrorising residents in Kogi and Edo states.
• In December 2017, the following notorious kidnappers were killed in Kogi State: Ahmadu Sulaiman (aka Oga), Shumo Haruna (aka Halilu Aliyu) and Abdullahi Abdulkadir aka Maijaki. They were responsible for high-profile killings and kidnappings in/around Ajaokuta.
• Militant, Don Waney, responsible for several murders in Rivers State, killed by the military in January 2018
• Badoo Ritualists’ gang, dismantled in Lagos State
• In January 2018, four suspects notorious for robbing and/or kidnapping commuters in Kogi State and its environs were arrested by the DSS in Otokiti, Adavi LGA of Kogi State: Mohammed Kabir (aka Master and Nicko), Muhammed Musa (aka World Best), Audu Emmanuel (aka Sneider) and Jallo Yunusa.
• On 17th February 2018, at Irrua, Edo State, DSS operatives arrested a gang of high profile kidnappers who dominated the Kogi and Edo corridors: Umar Abubakar (aka Small), Abubakar Ahmadu (aka Sarkin Yaki), Aliyu Abubakar (aka Koroko), Aliyu Mohammed (aka Chogo) and Abubakar Umaru (aka Bokolori).
• Cattle Rustling kingpin, Tsoho Buhari, aka Buhari Daji, killed in Zamfara State in March 2018. Several members of his gang have also been killed or arrested by security forces. (On 14th December 2017, Umar Abubakar (aka Yellow), one of his top associates, was shot and killed by DSS in a gun battle in Adavi LGA, Kogi State.
• Arrest in May 2018 of 56 suspected criminals/kidnappers/gunrunners in and around Birnin-Gwari, Kaduna State, by the Nigeria Police Force
• Major masterminds of the Offa Robbery, in Kwara State, arrested by the Nigeria Police Force in May 2018.