Former president Goodluck Jonathan has hit back at President Muhammadu Buhari over comments made by the latter on BBC Hausa.
Jonathan said Buhari, during the interview, lambasted his administration, stating that his (Jonathan’s) efforts were criminal in nature and treasonable.
But, in his response through the former minister of national planning, Dr Abubakar Suleiman, who sent a text message to PUNCH.
In the interview, Buhari accused the Jonathan administration of deliberately provoking Nigerian soldiers into mutiny by its actions and turning round to arrest and prosecute the soldiers.
He said the past administration, while fighting terrorists, sent soldiers to the battlefield without arms and ammunition.
Jonathan, however, said he tried to protect the constitution, which had had sworn to defend when he assumed office.
“No responsible government would strategise to lose a war. President Jonathan sworn to defend Nigeria sovereignty and territorial integrity and he did everything possible to achieve that height in the fight against the insurgents,” a text message by Suleiman said.
“It is unfair therefore for Mr. President to perceive such efforts by his predecessor as criminal and treasonable.
“The President should, in an attempt to build this country, make such pronouncements that will further unite us as a people than that those that would divide us. Posterity will judge everybody.”
Buhari had explained that his administration’s investigation into the activities of the immediate past government revealed that instead of procuring arms and ammunition for the soldiers, funds meant for the equipment were shared by government officials.
He said, “We investigated and discovered how funds that were pencilled down for arms procurement were diverted and shared by government officials who served the last administration.
“The government at that time sent the soldiers to the battlefield without arms and ammunition to prosecute the war. That was what led some of them to mutiny. They were arrested and detained because of this.”