The Presidency has assured Nigerians that President Goodluck Jonathan will not give up until the Boko Haram insurgents are defeated.
Presidential Media Adviser, Dr Reuben Abati, gave the assurance while speaking on ‘Dateline Abuja’, a Channel Television programme monitored at the weekend.
He however admitted that the Boko Haram war has been a major challenge for the Federal Government.
Abati said, “Dealing with this situation has been very challenging, but what is very clear is that the government of Nigeria will not give up.
“The government of Nigeria is not going to abandon this commitment. We will continue to ensure the security of life and property”.
“But what Nigerians must realize is that we are dealing with an unusual situation. This is not a conventional war; this is not a conventional situation whereby you are dealing with an enemy with a clearly defined identity, wearing a definite uniform and the battle field is chosen.
“We are dealing with an enemy that is almost anonymous, who can strike anywhere and an enemy who is prepared to die”.
The presidential spokesperson also dismissed claims that the President has not been proactive, saying “See, the President is the man in the kitchen; he feels the heat, and he is not running away from the heat.
“And he is saying, ‘look, we are dealing with the situation and we will continue to deal with it”.
On the recent presidential declaration for 2015, a day after over 47 persons were killed in Yobe, Abati had this to say:
“But in that declaration speech, he confronted the issues and having confronted the major issues that Nigerians have to deal with or are confronting, he then moved on to say, ‘look, in spite of these security challenges we cannot afford to despair, we cannot give up.
“You gave me this mandate in 2011; the made you have given me, this is what this administration has been able to do and he gave his scorecard.
“So, the conversation is not about his personal ambition. It is about the Nigerian project, which is one of phrases he used in that speech. The conversation is about the future of Nigeria; the conversation is about collective action, and many of the more brilliant commentators of that speech were immediately able to spot what the President was saying.
“After giving that scorecard, he himself to the service of the people, in the interest of Nigerians, to put Nigerians first all the time and I think that his honesty, his forthrightness is something that Nigerians appreciate.
“And that was why by the time he got to the point where he was offering himself for service again, the response within the arena was enthusiastic, was one of appreciation and this were ordinary Nigerians, even people in their homes who listened to him could feel the sincerity, they could touch it,” Abati said.
