http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tinubu-blames-mis-governance-poverty-for-rise-of-boko-haram/182327/

Former Lagos State Governor and one of the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has reiterated that the menacing activities of the Boko Haram sect in the northern part of Nigeria is a manifestation of mis-governance, gross injustice, mass poverty and declining democratic culture in the country.

Tinubu, who made this assertion yesterday during his opening remarks at the inaugural lecture of the Freedom Democracy lecture series held at the MUSON Centre in Lagos, while speaking on the theme: ‘Poverty and Terrorism Threaten the Foundation of our Democracy,’ said only acute poverty would explain why the deadly sect still has adherents and supporters.

He also lamented that Nigeria’s democratic ethos was on a constant decline, arguing that the duo of poverty and terrorism have come together to form what he described as a “terrible union” against democracy.

According to him, poverty is one of the root causes of terrorism in the country.
“Poverty is a big part of the answer. Poverty often distorts a person’s humanity. The destitute and the ignorant, casting about on their last strand of hope, are susceptible to a mean and wicked interpretation of the world that labels everyone not in that group as expendable sacrifices and objects of terror.

“Some claim the rise of Boko Haram has nothing to do with poverty. They blame it all on ideology. Some go as far as implying that Islam is at fault.  Those who say this can be excused to some extent for they are as ignorant about Islam as Boko Haram is.
“However, Boko Haram cannot be excused. They are violent murders of both Muslims and Christians. There is not one word in Islam that supports the evil they do.

“All nations have their wayward souls. However, in better governed, more prosperous societies, the number of anti-social actors is much less and even their extremism is somewhat muted. Because of their low numbers, they are confined to being a law enforcement problem.

“But here, abject poverty swells their ranks. Here, they have become a small army. With that, they are a national security threat and a political challenge to a free and open society,” Tinubu explained.

The former governor lamented that the current system of government in Nigeria cannot be tagged as democracy but instead, “a hybrid process where democracy is often the junior partner and minority attribute,” stressing that: “The system of governance we practice has not yielded the desired results – the dividends of democracy have been painfully elusive.”
He averred that most members of the Nigerian political class were still operating the dictatorial and imperial mindset that was part of the country’s recent past.

“Fairness and openness of process and outcome discourse and debate, and compromise and conciliation have no place in this realm. In this authoritarian world, the ends justify the means and the only ends pursued are those that increase the power and wealth of the people wielding them.  It is a top- down world where the top dictates the tune and everyone dances to it or gets kicked into the shadows,” he said.

In his views, with the increase in the number of state governors in the opposition party, the federal government arbitrarily has reduced the revenues flowing to the states in order to punish the political opposition thereby imposing “economic sanctions” because some political leaders have the temerity to belong to another party. 

“This is why they shut down newspapers recently and restricted freedom of movement by prohibiting key APC members from travelling into Ekiti State prior to  the governorship election.  This is why they deployed more security agents to hover over the elections in the state than they do to protect the people and tackle the security challenges in Borno State. The Minister of State for Defence has spent more time in Ekiti than he has in Chibok.  This is not a responsible democratic governance. It is a hoax,” Tinubu reckoned.

As a way of dealing with the problems confronting the country, Tinubu stated that government must thread on the path of caution and ensure that it does not truncate legitimate political activity by a legitimate and peaceful political opposition and that “government must restrain itself from striking indiscriminately against people in the affected areas, in the process committing human rights abuses that undermine democracy and  become a recruiting tool for the terrorists.”

Tinubu and his Elite Governors are the architect of poverty in entire south west... Ugly gorilla.

Even in lagos there is also acute poverty.

I always wonder why the so called leaders can't train and support the stream of our unemployed youths to be able to do jobs doing by people from other regions such as the tradings of needed things.

Asiwaju Tinubu postulations on Boko Haram is well thought out. However,one need to ask Tinubu how well he governed Lagos State 1999-2007. Tinubu served himself through acquisition of massive illicit wealth while deceiving Lagosians throughout the 8years. Afterall,Lagosians knew what Tinubu worth prior his Governorship and Lagosians also knows is worth today to the extent that he recently bought a Sixty million dollars private jet!!!!!! Lagosians are also aware of the continuos plundering of Lagos State Local Govts Statutory Allocations even after Tinubu has left office. Why won't there be poverty and wretchedness of the over 99o/o(Ninety nine percent plus) of APC followership in Lagos State because the money that is supposed to go to the grassroot is being stolen by APC Leaders led by Tinubu. My conclusion is that Tinubu is not competent and it doesn't lie in his mouth to sermonize on poverty because he has impoverished the people more than any other leader.

Mr Tinubu please tell us how many bombs you received during your 8yrs of "mis-governance in Lagos."
Even in this day and age with boko haram bombing Christians, markets, Schools, Shops etc, Alhaji Tinubu is still seeing this as the case of poverty. Going by Alhaji Tinubu's assertion all hungry people should bomb their neighbours?

The reasons Lagosians have not bombed this rich frog-eyed Alhaji is beyond me, I mean a well wrapped bomb, delivered to his Bourdilon mansion.

Boko Haram Promo.

APC should please cease promoting their armed wing.