A Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has described the terrorist group, Boko Haram, as an instrument of government created to destabilise the country and to shift focus during the 2015 elections.
The ex-governor, who made the startling allegation in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, dismissed the claim in some quarters that the insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country has religious coloration.
According to him, the security challenge is part of a well-orchestrated plot to distract citizens ahead of next year’s elections.
“Some of us believe that Boko Haram is not a religious problem. It is more of a political problem. Boko Haram is a problem created by the government deliberately to destabilise Nigeria and divert the attention of the people from the failures of the government.
“With Nigeria destabilised, starting from the North, when the 2015 elections come, the level of insecurity will be so much that Nigerians will not be concerned with the elections. Instead, they’ll be concerned primarily with peace. That will make election rigging easy”, he alleged.
Musa, however, advised Nigerians to shun the practice of selling their votes for money and, instead, decide that they want liberation.
“It is (lack of) money that undermines the freedom of the people to choose the right person. They can shun the money used for elections and politics, generally; it is not impossible, in spite of the poverty in the country and the manipulations by the elite”, he said.
The ex-governor also warned against electing leaders without integrity, citing the winner of the annulled 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, as the kind of leader that the electorate should vote for in 2015.
“The rich and powerful ruling class, which is responsible for what happened in the case of Abiola, can be controlled by the resolution of the people to make sure a free, fair and transparent election is conducted so that the rightful government is elected”, Musa noted.
According to the ex-governor, the commitment of some politicians to religion is not as much as their commitment to self-aggrandisement.
He further claimed that for most politicians, self-enrichment takes pre-eminence over their commitment to religion and ethnic origin. He said that the situation is such that “if you have money, you can avoid all these delineation of ethnic differences”.
The former Governor is wrong, and as a Northern Elder and Stateman he should know the history of this Jihad,. You call it insurgency they ( jihadist) call it Reformation. These has nothing to do with the present or past Goverment. The Jihad started in Nigeria 1804 during the Colonian Era. And there is a strong believe from that Era that there are foreign elements, especially the so called Colonian masters now refer to the international Community,. All these for Theritories and Soveriegnties, using Religion as a Back-up.