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Why Boko Haram thrived in North-East, by Raymond Dokpesi

By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
28 November 2017   |   4:13 am
The Chairman of Africa Independent Television (AIT), Raymond Dokpesi, has explained why Boko Haram insurgency thrived in the days of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Chairman of Africa Independent Television (AIT), Raymond Dokpesi, has explained why Boko Haram insurgency thrived in the days of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Dokpesi attributed the failure to destroy the insurgents to the concealment and distortion of information on Boko Haram activities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

He disclosed this at the weekend in Maiduguri, while addressing party delegates from Borno who would attend the party’s national convention in Abuja on December 9, 2017.

He said former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was not forth coming with the required information to fight Boko Haram to the finish at that time.

“The PDP lost the election in April 2015. The party is concerned about the welfare and well being of every Nigerian. I came to Borno State and invested in highly equipped digital studio in Maiduguri.

“The All Progressives Congress (APC) capitalised on Jonathan’s gentle disposition at that time and depicted him as being insensitive to issues affecting the Northeast.

“But the people doubted that it was not safe to do so in the epicenter of Boko Haram insurgency. We are human beings and the PDP government made some mistakes. I want to plead with you to forgive us. There were mistakes of strategy and planning. They were no mistakes of the mind,” he said.

Dokpesi said it takes between two to three years to procure arms and equipment, as some of the new fighter jets and ammunitions are not bought from the shelves to fight Boko Haram.

“We did not prepare for it and this was the mistake the party made in
2014,” he noted, stressing that all the armaments and fighter jets being deployed against counter-terrorism in the Northeast were ordered by the PDP and not the APC.

He said the challenge of the opposition party in Borno State was to win the 2019 National Assembly and governorship elections in the Northeast sub-region.

He urged the Borno delegates to the national convention to preach the new gospel, as hunger and poverty were high in the land, a situation that should not be acceptable in a democracy.

On his aspiration to be national chairman of the PDP, he said: “I’m here to reconnect with our people, who have been subjected to unimaginable mental, physical torture and stress over time.

“This will enable me sow the seeds and seek the votes of the delegates from Borno and Yobe states at the party’s national convention in Abuja and overcome the challenges of rebuilding the ruins caused by terrorists in the region.

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