Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Former Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has advised former President Olusegun Obasanjo to withdraw the statement credited to him, suggesting that “Fulanization and Islamization” of West Africa is the agenda of Boko Haram insurgents.
Lamido made the remark in a press statement from his media aide, Mansur Ahmad, in reaction to Obasanjo’s latest claim on Boko Haram. Lamido who served as Foreign Affairs Minister under Obasanjo between 1999 and 2003 said the claim is not proper for a nationalist of Obasanjo’s stature.
He advised the former President not to allow his disappointment with the current administration to turn him to a religious and ethnic bigot.
The former governor’s statement reads in part: “If it were said at a non-religious venue to a non-religious audience, may be; it might have been more tolerable. Please sir, don’t let your disappointment with sitting the President turn you into a bigot. You must not abandon the national stage. The cracks along the various divides in our National cohesion are already turning into huge gorges.”
Read also: Obasanjo: Boko Haram is for Fulanisation, Islamisation
The former President made the statement during a church service at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Oleh, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State. He was quoted as saying “the twin evils of Boko Haram and marauding cattle herders were initially treated with kid gloves”.
Obasanjo’s statement added: “It’s no longer an issue of lack of education and lack of employment for our youth in Nigeria which it began as; it is now West African Fulanization, Islamization and global organised crimes of human trafficking, money laundering, drug trafficking, gun trafficking, illegal mining and regime change.”
Lamido and Obasanjo are fierce critics of the Muhammadu Buhari administration. They have both openly criticised President Buhari for his handling of the economy and security situation of the country.
