Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state has blamed his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff for the escalation of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-eastern state of Nigeria.Delivering a keynote address at the 2017 Murtala Muhammed memorial lecture in Abuja on Monday, Shettima argued that the mismanaging of the Boko Haram activities by the Sheriff led administration contributed significantly to violent twist of the insurgency in the region.
Hear him: “I have restrained myself from blaming the previous government for the emergence of Boko Haram, but the fact of the matter is that Ali Modu Sheriff, the former governor, allowed his ego to stand in the way of a dispute between the army and followers of Mohammed Yusuf. Ali Modu Sheriff mismanaged the crisis by ignoring the situation, and he played into the hands of the insurgents.”
Governor Shettima also alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan did not understand the Boko Haram crisis until March 2013. According to him, conspiracy theories such as – Boko Haram being sponsored by the northerners to destabilise the government – on the insurgency encumbered Jonathan from taking proactive measures to end the crisis. “I think before President Jonathan’s fact-finding mission, he didn’t understand the Boko Haram crisis until March 2013,” he said.The governor claimed that Boko Haram had inflicted damages worth about $9bn on the north-east, and that it would take concerted effort to rebuild the region.
By Olisemeka Obeche