July 25, 2014
Former military head of state and a chief of the All Progressives Congress, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has shed more light on the assassination attempt on his life in the Wednesday bomb blast n Kaduna.
Speaking in an interview with the Hausa Service of the Voice of America (VOA) monitored in Kaduna on Thursday, Buhari said that he cannot tell the motive behind the attempt to assassinate him.
He noted that those who planned to kill him neither called him nor wrote him a letter to threaten his life before the attack, adding that he regretted the killing of innocent people who were at the scene of the blast.
He said, “We were on our way when a car suddenly trailed us and was speeding to get close to my vehicle but the vehicle following mine did not allow that.
“When we reached Kawo, near the market, we had to wait for other vehicles coming from the other end.
“It was the right side of the market on the left side it’s the road coming into Kaduna before the overhead bridge.
“From the right side, they detonated the bomb but Allah saved us. The three vehicles on my convoy were affected.
“I came out unhurt, but I saw many people on the ground. Some dead while others were seriously injured. My aides were injured but they were treated and discharged.
“Nobody had written me or called to threaten me. The incidence took me by surprise.”
Buhari, while commiserating with the families of those that died in the blast, said “When I came out of my vehicle, there was blood on my dress I did not know how it came about, because I did not have a scratch myself but there were dead bodies all over the place. The security tried to move me to the other side and we just got one of the vehicles passing and they brought me home.”
We can defeat Boko Haram
Buhari insisted on Thursday that Nigeria has the capacity to defeat the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
Buhari also noted that the sect’s activities should not be linked to Islam as is being insinuated in some quarters, adding that the sect could not have claimed to be fighting a religious cause when they killed innocent people and destroyed worship centers.
He said the earlier the Federal Government realised that the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect’s were not religious but terrorism, the better.
Buhari, who stated this while receiving the Kaduna State Governor, Mukhtar Yero, on a sympathy visit to him, said the sect could be crushed with the same zeal the 30-month civil war was brought to an end.
He said, “When this question of Boko Haram started I’m sure it was on record that the first statement I made about it 18 months ago was that no religion advocates what is happening.
“So, basically it is not the case of religion, or ethnicity because they are also killing children in schools in the North East.
“They kill teachers. They burn churches. They burn mosques. They burn motor parks. They burn markets.
“Where is religion there? Where is ethnicity there? This is terrorism and I hope the government will come to grip with it. Nigeria is capable of dealing with this. We dealt with the civil war for 30 months.
“We fought and we kept Nigeria one and God’s willing we are going to keep Nigeria one.”