Fayemi: Insurgency in Nigeria dropped since Buhari took power

Kayode Fayemi, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Ekiti State Governor, says insurgency in Nigeria has dropped since Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015 when compared to the previous administration.

Fayemi spoke on Saturday at the 2021 edition of The Platform, an annual conference organised by the Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos.

Fayemi however, stressed that the situation has also been bad in recent years, which had made Nigerians to live in fear, adding that the government must do more to protect live.

The Governor, noted the incumbent was voted into power based on his promised to Nigeria which its must largely failed to fulfill, while adding that insurgency has resurfaced in recent years largely because of the proliferation of arms, and volatile situation in some Nigeria’s border countries.

According to him, “In 2015, we promised many things but with the greatest respect, I think the most attractive promise that people bought into that we made was integrity.”

“When countries run into trouble, they run to a general. The country believed there was a security problem then.”

“It was because the majority believed in the integrity of the general to deliver on the issues that they were mostly agitated about – security, economy, anti-corruption, all encapsulated in the Change Agenda.

“You could argue that we’ve put in a lot of effort in those areas but have they earned the kudos of the citizens as they should? No, they haven’t because we still have insecurity in the land.

“Many may disagree but I will argue that at least on insurgency – it may be a distinction without a difference – we’ve witnessed a decline.

“In relation to the problem of insurgency which was the most prominent in 2015 when we were coming in. Remember UN House bombing, the churches that were being burnt, Abuja was a no-go area, the North-East but that problem witnessed a decline in the first four years of the Buhari administration.”

Nigeria’s security situation has aggravated in recent years the situation is particularly frightening in the North East, North West and Middle belt, where activities of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen have worsened leaving thousands dead and thousands homeless.

Political leaders say it is the worst since the civil war era.

Public anger has grown and there is the general perception that the President is not doing enough. Others have said that the situation has necessitated an urgent restructuring of the country and a review of the security apparatus.