Group blames terrorism on northeastern governors

A coalition of civil society groups from the northeast has blamed the rise and spread of Boko Haram on governors in the geopolitical zone.

The groups, which came together under the aegis of Gidado Ibrahim’s Northern Alternative Forum, accused the governors of “politicising” insecurity in the region.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Alhaji Gidado Ibrahim, the special adviser on communication and security strategy to the Emir of Potiskum, Yobe State, expressed regrets that “some governors and politicians whose failures over time led to the emergence of Boko Haram and insurgency in the northeast, continue to run their mouths and run away from responsibility, and would rather shamelessly blame the crisis in the region on the federal government.”

Gidado, who said he was speaking the mind of the majority of people in the northeast, absolved the federal government of blame in the crisis, saying: “The federal government has no hand whatsoever in the emergence of Boko Haram in Borno and Yobe States, neither is it responsible for the social condition that fuelled insurgency in the region.”

Berating governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, for his “diatribes” against the government, he said: “For the governor of Borno State to proclaim that illiteracy and poverty resulted in the emergence of Boko Haram is a self-indictment and a reflection of the kind of leadership that he and others provided in this state over the period.

“Given the huge resources that Borno State has received from the Federation Account and under the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) for the last 10 years, why on earth should the governor of Borno State still be pointing to illiteracy and poverty for terrorism and other crimes in the state.

“Every sincere northerner knows that the failures, actions and inactions of the governor and the government of Borno led to the rise of terrorism and Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast of Nigeria.”

President of Northern Youth Congress, Tijani Abdulmumuni, whose group was part of the coalition said that youths of the North are in support of the emergency rule in the Yobe, Borno and Adamawa,

“The would be chaos without the emergency rule in these states,” he said.