BEVERLY HILLS, February 13, (THEWILL) – The Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima on Monday disclosed that the inaction of his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff resulted in the Boko Haram sect becoming a terrorist organisation.
Shettima, who spoke at the annual lecture in honour of late Head of State, Murtala Mohammed in Abuja, said he was responding to a “political statement” by Sheriff in which he claimed that Boko Haram did not hold any territory in Borno when he handed over power.
Delivering a paper entitled: ‘Managing the Boko Haram crisis in Borno state, experiences and lessons for a multi party, multi ethnic and multi religious Nigeria,’ Shettima said Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, took advantage of Sheriff’s failure to provide leadership to declare a jihad.
“The fact is that Sheriff allowed his ego to overcome his action and failed to settle the differences between armed forces and members of Yusuffiya movement at the time,” he said.
He recalled that the late Boko Haram leader was a constant critic of the Sheriff administration, adding that in July 2009, some armed security agencies clashed with members of the sect over the use of helmets and shot 17 of them.
“A governor should have at least visited victims of the shooting to lay foundation for peace and he should have set up a commission of inquiry just like what Governor El Rufai did in Kaduna recently.
“He chose to mismanage the incident. He did not send anyone or settle the medical bill of anyone and he played into their hands. That gave Yusuf an opening to declare jihad,” Shettima argued.
