The president, Muhammadu Buhari, has for the umpteenth time poured encomiums on his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for voluntarily conceding defeat after the 2015 presidential elections.
Buhari, who poured praises on the former president at a dinner he hosted for Kannywood entertainers at the Presidential Villa in Abuja recently, said he would continue to hold the former president in high esteem for that selfless act.
ThisDay reports that Buhari who addressed his guests in Hausa, also condemned the dastardly acts of Boko Haram, stating that the group would be destroyed.
While praising the former president for willingly yielding power to him, Buhari said he was puzzled that Jonathan, after being in power for several years, would voluntarily hand over power to him.
“I will continue to hold former President Jonathan in high esteem as a result of that singular act.
“He was in power as deputy governor, governor, vice-president and president, all for about 10 years and he voluntarily accepted defeat and surrendered power to me,” he said.
On Boko Haram and its terrorist acts, the president promised to wipe out the insurgent group.
Buhari who described the group as “senseless” argued that it is evil for a group of people to shout Allahu Akbar (God is great) on one the hand and gruesomely hack worshippers of the same God in places of worship on the other.
“You can’t be shouting Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great), Allahu Akbar, and killing innocent citizens and destroying properties, all in the name of God,” he stressed.
Buhari’s resolve to deal decisively with Boko Haram came amid increasing and deadly activities of the group, in recent times, which included the mindless murder of a midwife working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Hauwa Liman on Monday, October 15 barely a month after they murdered an aid worker, Saifura Khorsa.
The president restated that it is wrong for a group which claims to be religious to storm churches and mosques to destroy innocent lives.
He said such destructive activities only shows that the insurgents are either confused or do not even know what they are doing. “It is either you don’t know what you are saying or you don’t even believe in the existence of God Almighty. God has nothing to do with injustice.
“So, now we are confronting them and by the grace of God we will destroy them,” the president stated.