The Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has flayed Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu for calling President Goodluck Jonathan a dictator.

This is just as the minister has said that the Federal Government was gradually winning the war against insurgency.

He made these assertions on Saturday in Warri, Delta State, while rounding off his visit to naval formations in the Eastern Naval Command and Central Naval Command to ascertain the state of naval platforms.

Obanikoro was accompanied by Flight Officer Commanding (FOC), Rear Admiral Sidi Hassan Usman and Commander, NNS Delta, Captain Musa Gemu to tour the naval platforms at NNS Delta, Warri, Naval Training Institution in Sapele and FOC’s Logistics Headquarters in Oghara in Delta State.

The former PDP gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos described President Jonathan as one who wraps himself with a democratic gown and therefore cannot be in a hurry to take decisions that are far-reaching and binding.

Obanikoro flayed leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for describing the presdient as clueless, saying the actual dictators are APC leaders who do not respect internal democracy, particularly Senator Tinubu, who is fond of singlehandedly picking candidates for all elective positions in the party.

“You cannot describe the president as clueless. The Presdient is a man who has wrapped himself fully in a democratic gown. And to wrap himself in a democratic gown, you cannot be in a hurry to take decisions. You must always have a balanced position on all issues. When President Olusegun Obasanjo was there, people complained of high-handedness.

“When President Yar’Adua was there, there were some complaints.  Now that Jonathan is there, he is trying to be democratic in every sense of it and every now and then, he is using his power to ensure certain things are done properly. People are saying he is becoming dictatorial.

“That is not dictatorship. Even in democracy, the law allows some elements of enforcement. If the enforcement is now interpreted to mean dictatorship, then, something must be wrong with us,” the former Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana submitted.

On terrorism, Obanikoro said the FG was upbeat in its effort to rescue the Chibok girls as well as stamp out insurgency from the country.

While justifying the president’s prayer from the National Assembly to obtain $1 billion loan to prosecute war against insurgency, the PDP chieftain likened terrorism to a marathon race that would be gradually and systematically phased out in no distant time.

According to him, if successive governments in the last 25 years before Jonathan’s had done what was needful as regards equipping the military adequately, there would not have been any need to go for the loan.

He said the federal government has resolved that within the limited resources available, the military was properly kitted to deal with the challenges confronting the country for now and the future.