– Governor Yusfu Shettima given assurance that no local government area is under the control of Boko Haram insurgents
– He also said the Nigerian troops have successfully pushed the sects out of the state
Governor Yusuf Shettima of Borno state dismissed as false claims that Boko Karam insurgents were controling 24 out 27 local government areas in the state.
He said that following the successes recorded by Nigerian troops in the last seven months coupled with realities on ground showed that none of the 27 local government t areas in the state were being occupied by the dreaded sect.
Governor Shettima made this clarification on Monday, February 8m in reaction to statement credited to a senator from the state who allegedly said that only three out of the 27 local government areas in the state were under full control of Nigerian Armed Forces adding that insurgents were in full or partial control of most parts of the state.
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The Governor spoke in response to questions by journalists shortly on arriving the Maiduguri International Airport. He 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. He returned to Maiduguri on Monday.
Shettima reacted saying: “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 lost, 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 notanchored 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 differentthings. 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.
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“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, the 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.”
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