Gov Ayade exonerates Buhari over raging insecurity, calls for int’l collaboration

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has asked for foreign collaborations to address Nigeria’s escalating levels of insecurity, claiming that the situation was beyond President Muhammadu Buhari’s control.

The governor stated this in an interview with Channels TV’s “Sunrise Daily” on Thursday, stressing that insecurity is not unique to the country.

“It is because people don’t understand the international dimension of this security challenge that they dismiss it as if it is a Nigerian or leadership issue.

“It is a global issue with the focus on keeping Nigeria unstable and so you need some international strategic and security connection to actually address the issue. It is far beyond the President and the capacity of the President of Nigeria,” Ayade stated.

Terrorist organisations such as Boko Haram and ISWAP now have worldwide linkages, according to the governor, implying that their influence extends beyond Nigeria.

“ISWAP has so much capacity now,” he remarked, comparing it to Boko Haram, both of whom are after Nigeria’s mineral resources.

President Buhari, on the other hand, claimed that despite facing difficult challenges, he was able to deal with them. He believes the security situation could have been far worse.

As a result, he added, Nigerians should not criticise Buhari based on “single instances.”

“President Muhammadu Buhari met a challenging situation, held it, and has been able to pull back the terrorist attacks and you judge him based on one occasional incident.

“If he was not there, it could have been worse than what he met. But he has made a lot of improvements,” Ayade said.