By Chinedu Eze, Martha Eigbofeh and Michael Olugbode
17 Jul 2011


Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima Saturday called for the continued presence of the military in his state which is under the siege of terrorist attacks from Boko Haram.
He disagreed with the Borno Elders Forum and leaders of thought, comprising influential indigenes of the state, that the continued presence of soldiers on the streets of Borno has worsened the security situation in the state.
Rather, he said soldiers withdrawal would increase insecurity in the state.
He spoke in a state broadcast on a day former Lagos State governor and leader of Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, attributed government’s inability to rein in Boko Haram to weak leadership.
Shettima’s broadcast was meant to douse tension over the raging controversy on the continued stay of the military in the state that has pitted the elders against the Joint Task Force that is overseeing the military operation to rout the terrorists from the state.
The elders had led the campaign for the withdrawal of the military over allegations that it had engaged in extra-judicial killings and rape.
The military, however, has denied the allegations, accusing its critics of fronting for the terrorist group that has killed thousands since it began its campaign against Western education and civilisation.
Shettima expressed regrets that those calling for the removal of the troops from the streets of Maiduguri failed to offer a better alternative to tackle the insecurity situation.
He said, “With no intent to denigrate nor question the motives of eminent personalities agitating for the withdrawal of the JTF from the state, I regret to note that none has offered a tangible, yet sustainable, alternative to fill the security vacuum that will be created in the event of the withdrawal of the JTF.”
He said the military authorities had agreed to issue a code of conduct and rules of engagement to the troops to protect innocent citizens.
While expressing sadness over the situation in the once peaceful state, he said poverty, lack of infrastructure, a poor educational system, unemployment, especially among youths, inept leadership and hunger, had encouraged the growth of radical organisations such as the Boko Haram.
Shettima said the targeting of innocent and unarmed civilians, regardless of their ethnicity, race and or religious beliefs, was alien to Islam.
He said Islam has never sanctioned the killing of non-Muslims or the destruction of peoples’ places of worship in whatever guise.
He said government would immediately compensate all the victims of the Boko Haram crisis, adding that a committee would be set up to compile a database on all victims.
However, Tinubu, in Lagos Saturday, said the situation in Borno would not have been this bad if government had been more proactive and alive to its responsibilities.
According to him, intelligence gathering is needed to fight Boko Haram and government has failed because of inept leadership.
He said the gap between the poor and the rich is enough to stoke disaffection, hate and violence, adding that government is not proactive in tackling the problems.
“We have to ensure that there is effective intelligent gathering but without undue interference in the fundamental rights of the citizenry and without abuse of power. We should not be firefighters all the time.
“We’ve had a system failure most of the time but instead of curing the disease we attack the symptoms. That is why we have recurrent problems in those areas,” he added.
Tinubu warned that those who are using religion to kill innocent people would spark a religious crisis in the country if not check on time.
He also defended the delay by Osun State governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, to constitute his cabinet, eight months after assuming office.
He said the delay had not affected governance, adding that the governor has been saving huge sums of money with the ingenuity with which he has been running the state.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/boko-haram-borno-governor-says-troops-should-stay/95173/

This guy is brave.

Sincere words

I am sure the guy has said his last prayers.

Brave!!That is what leadership is all about,you got to fight it out,it either you live rationally or you die

redsun:

Brave!!That is what leadership is all about,you got to fight it out,it either you live rationally or you die

word.

It is either you give in to dem bastards zombies(bokos)or take dem out.

They have no place in a world ruled by rationality.In as much as nigerian leaders are monsters,they are lesser monsters than the islamists.

those of u prasin d governor for been brave, hope u will nt accuse him of conspiracy wen they 'bh' come for his head?

i just hope that he is being sincere.

The Governor is sincere but that might change his lifetime to borrowed time, Shame to the Elders who are supporting the killing of innocent citizens. We need leaders that can die for what they believe not the compromising ones that are in the Government Houses and House of Assemblies.

Monkey i thought they wanted them(JTF) to leave.

Concept:

The Governor is sincere but that might change his lifetime to borrowed time, Shame to the Elders who are supporting the killing of innocent citizens. We need leaders that can die for what they believe not the compromising ones that are in the Government Houses and House of Assemblies.

the words in bold.

ok

nothing will happen to the man. 90% of our problems in this country is fear.
when Rotimi Amechi stood his ground against the criminals who were making life unbearable in Rivers and other ND ststes what happened at last ?

ZE:

nothing will happen to the man. 90% of our problems in this country is fear.
when Rotimi Amechi stood his ground against the criminals who were making life unbearable in Rivers and other ND ststes what happened at last ?

They are asking for an islamic state. What happened in Rivers state is different.

yap that s my shettima

Good reasoning! For God's sake, bh is made up of a bunch of criminals.JTF should deal with them mercilessly.The so called senator that is campaigning for a dialogue between the FG and bh should have his head buried alive.

Better to have them stay.

jtf should stay permanetly there fish out those boko haram guys and deal with them sas