Ex- President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that violent extremism was one of the hindrances that prevents democracy from working and delivering as it should saying that Boko Haram blossomed because compensation was denied the group for the death of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf.
Speaking at the closing of a two day workshop on Preventing Violent Extremism; Effective Narratives and Messaging in Abuja, Obasanjo said, “Boko Haram scaled up violent attacks after it was denied compensation for the killing of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf, as ordered by a court”.
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He said when grievances are not immediately addressed, violence occurs, adding that, “They believe that what they are doing is the solution to what they perceive is the problem.”
According to him, “The narrative of government authorities was to deal with it, with the stick, when the narrative became the stick, some of his followers went legal, and they got compensation.
“Government did not pay their members, they were being hunted and hounded, so they went into violence and that violence has not stopped.
“We did not have a stitch in time for Boko Haram, it has festered and gone beyond Maiduguri and Nigeria, and we have a monster, if we had tamed it much earlier, with the right narrative, with the right action, the story might have been different.”
