Former Vice President and a chieftain of the ruling APC fires President Buhari

It is often said that politics is a game of interest and there is not permanent friend, nor permanent enemy.

In a bid to protect his interest, formal Vice President under the auspices of the Ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has turn out to be the leading opposition party in Nigeria, created some enemies and reconciled with some of his political enemies, as he decamped from one party to party (running from pillar to post).

Prior to the 2015 general election, he went back to the now ruling All Progressive Congress, and gave all his support to the party with the intention of being the party’s candidate, which never came true.

Reporting reaching us has it that, Atiku Abubakar is now in disagreement with the manner in which President Buhari is leading Nigeria, and the claim by Buhari who said Boko Haram terrorists have be defeated in the North-East.

According to Atiku, while speaking at the 11^th Founder’s Day Ceremony of the American University of Nigeria, AUN, stated how the terrorist group remained deadly.

“The insurgents still occupy a specific geographical space. They (Boko Haram) still retain the capacity for occasional deadly attacks. Many citizens in the zone still remain vulnerable and live in fear.”

The former vice president’s statement apparently contradicts claims made by Buhari and his Minister of Information, Lai Muhammed, claiming that terrorism has been defeated technically, saying no territory is under their control.

During Buhari’s democracy day speech to the nation, he reiterated how Boko Haram was defeated when he said: “We marshaled our neighbours in a joint task force to tackle and defeat Boko Haram. By the end of December 2015, all but pockets and remnants had been routed by our gallant armed forces”.

Prior to that, Lai Mohammed had stated that the Boko Haram terrorists remain largely decimated, dispersed and disoriented, adding that “in reality, insurgency has been weakened as a cohesive terror force”.

Contrarily, Atiku while speaking on Saturday, said it was too early for anyone to claim victory over Boko Haram at the moment, adding that, “We cannot say that the problem is over until every displaced person is able to return home, to the office, to the market, to the farm, and resume normal activities.

“We cannot say it is over until we rebuild the schools, the churches, the hospitals, the markets, and the homes that had been destroyed. And we cannot say it’s over until the survivors of this insurgency receive the help they need, including psychological therapy to deal with the trauma that they have been through.

“I visited an IDP camp on Saturday and had the privilege of teaching a math class to some children. But the site of hundreds of children running around and unable to attend school was very gut wrenching. It still breaks my heart. So we cannot say the insurgency is over until all the displaced children return to their schools.

“And, as I indicated last year, it would not be enough for people to simply return to their pre-insurgency lives. We must do better than that otherwise we would only have papered over the wound without really treating it.

“People must return to something better, to hope, to improved schools, to improved economic opportunities, to freedom of worship and improved inter-religious harmony.”