Posted on: 05:00 Tue, 09 Feb 2016



Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Monday clarified that Boko Haram insurgents were no longer occupying any of the 27 local government areas in the State.

Shettima was reacting to remarks credited to a Senator from Borno State, who was reported to have alleged that only 3 out of the 27 local government areas in the State were under the full control of the Nigerian Armed Forces, with the insurgents in full or partial control of most parts of the State.

The Governor spoke in response to questions by journalists shortly after arriving the Maiduguri International Airport.

Shettima had traveled to Saudi Arabia a week ago, to lead a delegation of northern Governors for series of meetings with executives of the Islamic Development Bank in Jedda, towards
attracting support to rebuild the northern region.

“To me, it is unbelievable that such a statement
could have emanated from Senator Baba Kaka
Bashir Garbai. I can’t believe he said that
because as a Senator, he has access to the
Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff,
the IGP and even the Presidency and he is not
the type that even speaks to the media easily;
so, this is why I am at a loss, I have not been
able to get in touch with him yet to get his own
side, to hear from him what he actually said;
but for now, I suspect he must have been
misquoted or if he wasn’t misquoted, he must
have spoken based on emotional outburst and not anchored on ground realities.

“We cannot mix two things. There is a
difference between Boko Haram insurgents
seizing and occupying territories and Boko
Haram attacking communities, these are two
different things.

“In the past, Boko Haram used to come in
commando styles to attack, seize, occupy
communities and hold residents hostage and
then administer territories, that is occupation.

We no longer have that in Borno. None of the 27
local government areas is being occupied by
Boko Haram. They have all been liberated.

What we have are challenges still being posed by
Boko Haram to show their presence and even
these attacks are done from the position of
weakness and not strength.

“In the past, they moved with audacity and
arrogance, now they move with fear just like
armed robbers do in other parts of Nigeria. Our
military personnel have done marvelously well
under the Buhari administration and I think we
can only commend them and not vilify them.

“Buhari has shown uncommon and absolute
commitment to ending this insurgency.

Two sons of Borno, the Chief of Army Staff and the
National Security Adviser are leading this fight
and this goes to show the sincerity of the
President. It was under Buhari that Bama, Mafa,
Gwoza, Dikwa, Ngala and host of others were
liberated.

“As we speak, we are rebuilding communities,
we couldn’t have started if the situation wasn’t
different from what Buhari inherited from the
PDP led Presidency.

“Look, since the end of slavery and colonialism,
no evil had befallen the black man worst than
the emergence of the PDP as the ruling Party in
Nigeria and we can all confirm this from the
manner the PDP handled funds meant for
procurement of arms to equip the military and
protect our citizens in the northeast.

Buhari cannot clean up the PDP mess in seven months,
it has to be patient driven on our parts as
citizens. Buhari has shown us love and
empathy. Since he came, virtually every Minister
has come to Borno with an agenda to heal our
wounds in various aspects, we can only support
the President.

“Then, leadership goes beyond talking without
exhausting options, especially when dealing with
an administration that is accessible to you to
seek whatever clarifications you might need.

There are privileges you enjoy that deny you
certain rights and there are certain rights that
deny you certain privileges”, Shettima said.