The Federal Government has berated the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, over his statement expressing surprise at the existence of Boko Haram insurgents.

Atiku, a former Vice President, had said he could not understand the Boko Haram phenomenon and wondered why the terrorists continued to operate in the country.

The PDP presidential flag-bearer said this at the ‘People’s Townhall’ series for presidential candidates and their running mates, organised by Channels Television on Sunday.

Reacting, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in Abuja on Tuesday, said Atiku should throw the question to his party, PDP, “under whose watch the Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009 and festered”.

The minister said this at the President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard Series (2015-2023)’ organised to showcase the achievements of Buhari’s administration.

He said for six years, until 2015 when President Buhari assumed office, “the PDP more or less nurtured the insurgents to the monster they later became.”

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“Alhaji Atiku should ask his party why it allowed Boko Haram to operate freely, bombing cities, motor parks, schools, and other soft targets unrestrained.

“Alhaji Atiku, who was then residing in Abuja before porting to his new abode in Dubai, should ask his party, the PDP, while it allowed Boko Haram to bomb the police headquarters, the UN complex, a shopping mall and motor parks in Abuja with so much ease,” the minister added.

Mohammed said with the efforts and sacrifices of the Nigerian military, normalcy had been achieved in the North-East, adding that Boko Haram terrorists had been cleared from most of their strongholds while the remnants were being restricted to the island around Lake Chad that was difficult to access.

“The former Vice-President may want to know that both kinetic and non-kinetic activities employed by the military have seen the terrorists surrendering in droves, thereby freeing large spaces for normal socio-economic life to resume.

“The good news this year is that a bumper agricultural harvest is assured, as farmers were able to carry out extensive farming, which had not been possible since the beginning of insurgency/terrorism in the North East,” he said.

The minister, however, urged Atiku “while on campaigning and throwing political jabs should take note of the popular idiom that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”

The Star