Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, has taken a swipe at his Nigeria counterpart, President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing foreigners into Nigeria to fight insurgency. He said he would rather commit suicide than surrender his country’s security to foreigners as Nigeria and some other African nations have done.
He made the remarks while speaking at a political event in the nation’s capital, Kampala, during the week.
Museveni was quoted by the country’s state-owned newspaper, New Vision, as saying that the inability of the governments of Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo, to protect their people amounts to failure.
“I have never called the United Nations to guard our security. Me, Yoweri Museveni to say that I have failed to protect my people and I call in the UN, I would rather hang myself,” he said.
“We prioritized national security by developing a strong army otherwise our Uganda would be like DRC, South Sudan, Somalia or Nigeria where militias have disappeared with school children. It would be a vote of no confidence to our country and citizens if we can’t guarantee our security, what kind of persons would we be?”
Earlier in the month, Mr. Museveni warned the Nigerian government against negotiating with the Boko Haram sect.
“It would be a mistake for the government of Nigeria to negotiate with these people. The most important thing is to defeat them, then negotiations can come after that.”
Nigeria recently accepted international assistance to help rescue over 200 girls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State on April 14.