We Must Not Allow The Nigeria Project To Fail – Turaki

BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – One of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP), Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, has cautioned against allowing the Nigerian Project to fail.
This is just as he said that the war against terror in the country has remained intractable because the current administration has failed to embrace global best practices of carrot and stick.
Turaki while presenting his Letter of Intent to contest the PDP presidential primary to the party’s Board of Trustees in Abuja, said that if the Nigerian Project is allowed to fail, God forbids, its disastrous consequences on Africa would be better imagined than experienced.
He said; “For the first time, everybody is dissatisfied with the Nigerian Project. Today, the economy is in doldrums. Nigerians have never been so divided. Today, we have a government that discriminates while Nigerians are not only hungry, but angry because of poverty, hunger and killings. Never in the history of this nation had there been this trenchant agitation for self-determination.”
However, briefing newsmen in Minna, Niger State, Turaki who was the chairman, Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North East during the Jonathan Administration, explained that they were able to push Boko Haram insurgents to the fringes of the country and also conducted the 2015 elections in the frontline states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa by adopting the time-tested practices.

According to him; “Unfortunately, the APC-led government failed to continue the battle from where the PDP left off, and worse still, the government abandoned the all-inclusive recommendations left behind for it, hence, the reversal in fortunes in spite of the claim to have ‘technically’ degraded the Boko Haram.”
He explained that there is nowhere in the history of nations that fought terror, where terrorism was fought decisively and squarely based on open and direct or indirect confrontation between insurgents and the military.
Turaki noted that when terrorism is based on a dogma as in the case of Boko Haram, whether misguided or not, there was need to take the dogma out of the minds of insurgents who have surrendered because when you win the battle, you have to win the war.
The presidential aspirant further said; “You need to engage such insurgents in a serious re-orientation. You need also to ensure that they learn skills to become productive members of the society, in addition to making conscious efforts to re-integrate them into the society.
“Unfortunately, these are not options which this government is pursuing and that is why they are failing.”
Turaki recalled that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the USA were allegedly attributed to institutional rivalry, adding that the Nigerian case is even worse, as the security agencies are working at cross-purposes as earlier revealed by a senior official of government before a National Assembly Committee.
“How then can they take advantage of each agency’s comparative advantage in intelligence gathering, analyzing and implementing the information collated?” he asked.
“Worse still there had been no leadership capable of taking decisive decisions to put an end to the rivalry, thereby putting the protection of lives and property in jeopardy.
“This certainly shall not be tolerated if Nigerians give me the mandate to lead,” he said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria noted that the maladministration of the APC is threatening the fabrics of the Nation as an indivisible and indissoluble entity under God.
He regretted that the APC government is misusing its understanding of the dynamics, complexities and intricacies of power to oppress Nigerians in its desperation to hold on to power at all costs.