The Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP yesterday said that poverty and misrule were not responsible for the emergence of the Boko Haram sect, which it described as a local terror group.
In the PDP’s opinion, poverty was not a recent phenomenon in the country “and therefore cannot form the basis of the sudden wave of criminal attacks on innocent victims, most of whom live within the poverty bracket.”
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party however urged those behind the violent attacks against Nigerians to have a rethink and understand that life was sacrosanct and that nobody has the right to shed innocent blood under any guise.
The PDP spokesman said it was solidly behind President Goodluck Jonathan for his forthrightness on national issues especially regarding the Boko Haram insurgency in his interview on Wednesday with CNN.
The PDP also concurred with the President that power supply in the country had tremendously improved under his government and assured that the nation will achieve an enviable level of stability in power supply before the end of the year.
“The President is correct on the issue of power. We all know that power supply in the country has improved tremendously under his watch and we have confidence in the President’s assertion that Nigerians will witness tremendous stability in power supply very soon”, Metuh added.
“The President is right and we fully align with him on his position that Boko Haram is not a product of poverty or misrule as some people are suggesting. We agree with him that it is a local terror group.
”There have been successive regimes before this administration but this insurgency increased the same way terrorist activities are escalating in other parts of the world at this time. So it is clear that some people are out to perpetrate acts of terrorism in Nigeria to create a semblance of insecurity as it obtains in other troubled spots of the world,” Metuh said.
The PDP also expressed its confidence in the efforts by the administration to ensure the security and welfare of Nigerians in accordance with its manifesto and mandate.
It also commended the decision of the president to send troops to Mali as part of the nation’s commitment to working with other governments to root out terrorism in the sub-region.
The party said the interview once again shows the forthrightness, candour and simplicity of the President in addressing national issues.