BOKO HARAM: It started with Yar’adua, it is not about Jonathan – Shettima

Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday said the Boko Haram Islamic sect launched its terrorist activitiesn when late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration killed its leader, Mohammed Yusuf. Shettima debunked claims in some quarters that the insurgency was aimed at stopping President Jonathan from succeeding in his assignment. According to reports from National Mirror, the Governor lamented the misunderstanding of the Boko Haram crisis by those who should be in a position to proffer solution to the crisis, saying the state government has spent over N10 billion as counterpart funds since the insurgency began. Speaking at a two-day conference on security and human rights, organised by the Centre for Historical Documentation and Research of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Shettima said it was unfortunate that the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, was blind to the real crisis behind Boko Haram and, therefore, chose to play with it. The governor pointed out that the insurgents had done so much harm to Islam, killing thousands of innocent souls and destroying property worth tens of billions of naira in its wake, in the state. He advised that if the insurgents are allowed to overrun the north eastern part of the country, they would seek to extend their territory to other parts of the country, while saying negligence was responsible for the current state the nation found itself. His words: “There is the unfortunate saying that Boko Haram is an agenda to stop a southern President from doing his job. “Of all the attacks by Boko Haram from 2002, their major attacks were in 2009 when Mohammed Yusuf was killed under a northern President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The attacks snowballed in 2011 till date. So, what are we talking about? “To Boko Haram, the life of a Muslim who doesn’t share the sect’s ideology is as condemned as that of a Christian or a traditionalist. What would make one really disturbed is that Maku was supervising Minister of Defence for some time. No one might even know the extent he might have inflicted his understanding of the Boko Haram on security chiefs he had to work with. “Boko Haram crisis is highly misunderstood by many people, some of whom, unfortunately are in position to form part of those that will make decisions to fight it. Let us not forget that Maku is a member of the Federal Executive Council,” he reminded.