The Federal Government of Nigeria criticised Atiku Abubakar, the People's Democratic Party's (PDP) presidential candidate, on Tuesday for recent remarks he made concerning the terrorist organisation Boko Haram.
At a weekend campaign event in Abuja, the former vice president voiced his surprise at Boko Haram's existence.
The PDP should be asked "under whose watch the Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009 and festered," Mohammed urged Atiku at the 11th annual "PMB Administration Scorecard Series" event on Tuesday in Abuja.
In an interview for this article, Minister of Power Aliyu Abubakar provided a grade for his ministry's performance over the past seven years.
Mohammed began his case by stating that from 2009 until 2015, when the Buhari administration came into office and received Boko Haram as its legacy, "The PDP more or less nourished the rebels to the monster they subsequently became."
“Alhaji Atiku should ask his party as to why it allowed Boko Haram to operate freely, bombing cities, motor parks, schools, and other soft targets unrestrained.
“Alhaji Atiku, who was then residing in Abuja before porting to his new abode in Dubai, should ask his party, the PDP, why it allowed Boko Haram to bomb the police headquarters, the UN complex, a shopping mall and motor parks in Abuja with so much ease.”
The minister said that the North East, Boko Haram’s birthplace, has returned to normalcy thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of the Nigerian military.
He said that most of Boko Haram’s strongholds had been removed and the remaining members were being pushed to the inaccessible island of Tumbus in Lake Chad.
“The former Vice-President may want to know that both kinetic and non-kinetic activities employed by the military have seen the terrorists surrendering in droves, thereby freeing large spaces for normal socio-economic life to resume.
“The good news this year is that an agricultural bumper harvest is assured, as farmers were able to carry out extensive farming, which had not been possible since the beginning of insurgency/terrorism in the North East”, he said.
During a campaign, Mohammed warned Atiku not to “take note of the popular idiom that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”