President Goodluck Jonathan and his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, have vowed to push ahead until terrorists are defeated.
Both leaders spoke in Abuja on Monday after bilateral talks. Mr. Kenyatta is on a three-day State visit to Nigeria ahead of the opening of the World Economic Forum on Africa.
Speaking at a joint press conference, President Jonathan was delighted that in spite of the recent terrorists attack, President Kenyatta refused to cancel his three-day state visit to Nigeria as he arrived on schedule on Sunday.
President vowed never to succumb to terrorist, saying their target was to stop government from working and frighten the people.
He also commiserated with the government and people of Kenya on the Sunday incident.
Jonathan said, “I also want to use this opportunity to express the condolence of Nigeria to government of Kenya on the last terror attack. For us in Nigeria, we have been experiencing these dastardly acts for sometimes now.
“Kenya is beginning to experience it. We have to appreciate the courage expressed by the president for not aborting the state visit and the invitation to the World Economic Forum because of the attack. It is a clear signal from here that the attack will not stop us from moving forward.
“The act of terror in Africa is diversionary being organised by a group of people that does not want the continent to move forward.
“Whenever a country is showing any sign of progress, these criminal elements will strike.
“Yes, they are setting us backward, they are slowing us down, they are killing innocent citizens, they are destroying properties but surely we will overcome and terror will not stop Africa from progressing.
“The terror attack is naturally to frighten people but as governments, we will do our best to make sure that we provide maximum protection for our citizens,” President Jonathan said.
The visiting President Kenyatta also condoled Jonathan and all Nigerians over recent attacks in the country and described terrorists as cowards.
He said he decided to go ahead with the State visit in spite of the Nairobi attack to show them that his government would not stop working.
Kenyatta said it would be wrong to assume that Nigeria and Kenya are not safe because of pockets of attacks, urging the people of both countries to support in the fight against terror.
He said, “Just like the people of Nigeria, we have suffered at the hands of cowardly terrorists. People who have no value for life, who continue to wreck wanton havoc on lives and properties in our two countries.
“Yesterday (Sunday), as the President has said, we in Kenya lost a number of people and many others injured in the cowardly attack that took place in Nairobi Kenya.
“Indeed, these attacks are aimed at cowing the people of our countries and this continent, to derail them from the new agenda that we have set for ourselves.
“My presence here is an indication that these people will not derail us. We will continue, we shall fight the fight and we will win the fight and in the process we will continue with our agenda of transforming our continent’s economy. This we must not lose focus on.
“Mine is to ask the people that we must join hands together; government alone cannot defeat these cowards who attack people in buses by the road side. We must ask our people to join hands with us to fight this battle,” the Kenyan leader said.
