Boko Haram not because of me, says Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan Sunday said
the activities of the Boko Haram sect which
has devastated especially the north eastern
part of the country is not because of him
but is part of international global terrorist
network.
Speaking on a nationwide radio/television
programme Presidential media chat,
President Jonathan also insisted that the
House in Apo where some persons were
killed by security forces had elements of
Boko Haram adding that though innocent
persons may have died in the exchange
between security forces and the terrorists,
it does not mean that innocent persons
were deliberately targeted.
President Goodluck Jonathan (3rd l)
answering questions from a panel of
journalists during the Presidential Madia
Chat at the Presidential Villa Abuja On
Sunday (29/9/13).
“Boko Haram has been there even before I
became the president. When the bombed
the United |Nations and the barrack in
Abuja, we did not have the capacity to
tackle them.
But with time, we have built the capacity of
the security services and we have made
tremendous progress. I am not God so I
cannot be everywhere.
What I can promise Nigerians is that within
the limit of our ability, we will ensure that
we will try our best to ensure that we check
the activities of these people and put an
end to their activities” he said.
He said though the security services are
doing their best to check the activities of
the Boko Haram sect, the terrorists are
always evolving ways in collaboration with
international terrorist organizations to
undermine the activities of the security
agencies.
Speaking on the recent killings in Apo,
President Jonathan said ‘though innocent
persons may have died, there were
confessions from arrested Boko Haram
operatives that there were arms in that
building. Where there is a confrontation
between security operatives and criminals,
innocent persons sometimes fall victims.
But definitely, there were Boko Haram
elements in that building.
The Boko Haram has links with their
network with AlQaeda and other terrorist
organizations. Some of the people that
were arrested confessed and they were
leading them to where they said arms were
kept and there was an exchange of gunfire.
In the process some people were arrested
some died. I cannot say clearly that all
those who died were members of Boko
Haram but definitely there were Boko
Haram elements there” he said.
Asked to confirm definitely whether the
leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar
Shekau was dead, President Jonathan said
he cannot say for sure whether the terrorist
leader was dead or alive because there is
no conclusive evidence to indicate that he
was dead or alive.