PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, blamed insecurity in the Sahel on armed guards allegedly recruited from all over Africa by the late Libyan President, Muammar Gadaffi.
He stated this while receiving in farewell audience the outgoing Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, UNOWAS, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, at the Presidential, Villa, Abuja.
The president warned that as long as Libya remained unstable, illegal arms and ammunition would continue to flow in the Sahel region of the African continent.
He observed that Gadaffi held grip on power in Libya for 42 years, recruiting armed guards from different countries, who then escaped with their arms when he was killed.
The president in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said: “They didn’t learn any other skill than to shoot and kill. So, they are a problem all over the Sahel countries today.
“We closed our land borders here for more than a year, but arms and ammunition continued to flow illegally. As far as Libya remains unstable, so will the problem remain.
“We have to cope with the problems of development, as we can’t play hop, step and jump. But we will eventually overcome those problems.”
Buhari described Chambas, who spent many years in Nigeria in different capacities, from ECOWAS to UN, as “more of a Nigerian than anything else.”
He wished him well in his future endeavours.
The outgoing Special Representative thanked the President “for personal support I received from you, and from Nigeria as a country.”
He said Nigeria would continue to play leadership role on the continent.
On terrorism and violent extremism in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin area, Chambas said Nigeria was playing a yeoman’s role, particularly in giving support to the Multinational Joint Task Force, MNJTF.
