Insecurity, Economic Decline: Buhari Pleads for Patience, Understanding

Insecurity, Economic Decline: Buhari Pleads for Patience, Understanding
19 Dec 2015
Lai Mohammed

 Boko Haram planning another abduction, says Lai Mohammed
 Tobi Soniyi, Adebiyi Adedapo and Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to show more understanding and patience despite the numerous economic and security challenges facing the nation.

 Also yesterday, the federal government raised the alarm that Boko Haram terrorists operating in the Northeast were planning to abduct school pupils, students and foreigners in a desperate effort to raise funds, through ransom, for food, medical and arms supply.

 A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina said Buhari spoke yesterday at the State House while hosting Father Ejike Mbaka of the Catholic Church, who was at the State House on a courtesy visit.

 The statement said Buhari told Mbaka that one of the best exhortations to the nation he had heard from the pulpit was the one made early this year by Mbaka of the Adoration Ministries, Enugu.

 Buhari expressed his appreciation of the Catholic priest's exemplary courage, saying "Thank you very much for what you have done and said. It brought you out to the whole country as a man of courage. It was honest and well delivered. It has gone into the records as one of the best concerns expressed from the pulpit, not because it favoured me and my party, the All Progressives Congress, but because it was good for the country."

 Buhari reaffirmed his conviction that change would come to the country, "with a lot of hard work, despite the security and economic problems."

 He appealed for the continued understanding and patience of Nigerians.
 Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was present at the president's audience with Father Mbaka described the priest as a man "who stood for truth and propriety, and declared corruption unacceptable."

 He added that the Buhari administration "is committed to truth and justice, and won't encourage corruption in any way."
 Fr. Mbaka, who in the run up to the 2015 presidential election,  told his teeming followers that erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan would not be re-elected because of pervading corruption and insecurity in the land, said he was happy with the mission and methodology of the Buhari administration.

 He also wished the President a happy 73rd birthday.
 Mbaka told State House correspondents after the meeting that he came to commit the country into the hands of God and pray for peace in the land and to establish permanent blessing upon all Nigerians as Christmas approached.

 He said: "We wish to pray for spiritual revival, economic revamp and for moral probity in this country, committing the country to the Jesus that is born.

 "We are committing the entirety of this Aso Rock to the hands of God and commit the good missions and visions of the President to the hands of God.

 "We are here to commit Nigeria to Jesus so that it shall be well with our people that heaven will celebrate Christmas for Nigerians; that Nigerians will have reasons to say that God is great during this 2015 Christmas season.

 "We are praying for His anointing upon our land, that the Holy Spirit will be the tabernacle in this country and we bless even the born and the unborn of the Nigerian citizenry, that any area that there used to be crisis, God will introduce peace.

 "In Micah 5:5, His name is Shalom which means peace. In John 20:19, He says peace be unto you. In John 20:211, He says peace be unto you. In John 20:26, He says peace be with you.

 "So we have come to sing the same song of peace be with you to all Nigerians and to pray for blessings upon our people and impact spiritual favours upon them.
 "As we are going for Christmas, may the blessings of Nehemiah 2:20 be upon them and the land. And the man of God says we will succeed."

 Boko Haram plans to abduct more girls…
On plans by Boko Haram’s plan to abduct more girls, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement noted that the planned abduction was a new strategy adopted by terrorists to focus on soft targets.

 According to the minister, ''The kidnap of the Chibok girls in 2014, which attracted global attention to the terrorist group, is what they are trying to repeat, hoping it can find vulnerable targets, especially schools, or a group of foreigners outside the frontline states.

“The plan by Boko Haram is also part of an overall strategy by the terrorists to seek to negatively impact on the psyche of the gallant troops, who have routed them (terrorists) from their stronghold and also give the impression that they have not been largely defeated by the December 2015 deadline given by this administration to effectively degrade the insurgency in the North-east."

 Also, His Eminence, Arch Bishop John Cardinal Onaiyekan has urged the federal government to ensure that the dreaded Boko Haram sect was no longer an organised fighting force with a structure.

 The Arch Bishop said this at an Advent Cocktail organised by the Catholic Cathedral of the 12 Apostles in honour of the Heads of Diplomatic Missions and their Spouses in Abuja recently.

 Onaiyekan stated that the battle to oust the sect came very late, making it possible for it to almost capture a large part of Nigeria's territory, take a number of its citizens hostage, kill and maim many and, would have advanced further if not for the gallant efforts of the Nigeria Army.

 He said the federal government would be lucky to meet the December deadline it set to conquer Boko Haram.
 Onaiyekan said: "On the issues of Boko Haram, everyone sets a target of where he or she wants to reach. If you are lucky, you get there and if you are not, you may not get there. But, I can say that they are making progress."