The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has accused his predecessor, Ali Modu Sheriff of causing the widespread of the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast with his inaction during his time as the governor of the state.
Shettima who made this allegation in response to Sheriff’s political statement that Boko Haram had no territory under siege during his tenure, stated this while delivering a paper titled “Managing the Boko Haram crisis in Borno state, experiences and lessons for a multi-party, multi ethnic and multi religious Nigeria,” at the annual lecture in honour of the late Head of State, Murtala Mohammed, in Abuja on Monday.
According to the governor, the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was a constant critic of the Sheriff’s administration took advantage of his failure to provide leadership to declare a jihad that later spread through the North East region.
Shettima while recalling the incident that happened in July 2009, where some armed security agencies clashed with members of the sect over the use of helmets and shot 17 of them said, “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.”
“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,” he alleged.
