No governor is sponsoring Boko Haram – Aliyu

The Governor of Niger State and Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, has denied that any governor has a hand in the funding of the activities of Boko Haram

Aliyu said apart from the fact that there is no proof to substantiate the allegation, any governor who does so is only adding to his own problem as the issues that will arise from such will also be tackled by the governor.

The governor, who spoke after a meeting of the NGF with the Vice-President, Architect Namadi Sambo, the ministers of Defence and Police Affairs and a representative of the National Security Adviser at the State House, Abuja, said that everything was being done by the governors to curb the activities of the dreaded sect.

Aliyu spoke in a question and answer session with newsmen after the meeting that ended at 2am today.

Q: The Southern Christians living in the North for fear of attack are relocating en masse to their states. What assurance are you giving those living in the North?

A: We have discussed generally about the terrorist activities of the so called Boko Haram, identifying and trying to define who they are.  Fundamentally, what we discovered is that what they want is possible division of the country. We understand they do not understand the constitution of Nigeria and so any attempt by anybody to either move to the South or to the North in the name of religion or in the name of regional thing is like making these people succeed without making effort. Like any terrorist, their effort is to create a situation where people will react so that they achieve their objective and that is why all of us, particularly the governors of the 19 states of the North, agreed that each one of us must go beyond the normal duty to assure the people of their safety and to do those things that will further create the confidence of the people so that they stay where they are and continue to do what they have to do. With regard to what has happened in Kano in particular, we must be very conscious, we must go back to the old traditional way of gathering information, gathering intelligence by using people. We all know that in the olden days, anybody, any stranger that comes into an area, people know who he is and he is identified and reported appropriately and we must do that. People who come newly to rent a place, people who come to buy land, now we must be very security conscious. I have been telling people that I grew up in a compound and never saw the door of that house locked. But now with the change in situation, we must understand what is happening and really take appropriate action. And that is what we have all pledged to do and support the Federal Government in its activities and for it to support us in other activities. We understand that security agencies will need the kind extra support that we can give and all of us must become security agents too and when I say all of us, I mean all Nigerians. So, when the President said we must police ourselves that is the understanding that all of us are now involved until we are able to pass this emergency.

Q: What are your findings on the sponsorship of these terrorists?

A: I am not aware of that yet. But what we understand is that most of them were trained outside the country in places like Yemen and other places and they participated in some other countries issue. So, we are dealing with well-trained group of people. But they are not many by the understanding of the intelligence community. We understand they are well-funded, not necessarily by Nigerians and they are linked with Al-Qaeda and co. So, we must go extra mile to do other things.

Q: There are allegations that some governors even have a hand in the sponsorship. Is that so?

A: We read something like that but no proof has been given. And I think we all denied it until a proof is given. I don’t think anyone, any governor in his right senses will fund such an organisation because at the end of the day it is a self-defeating approach. I don’t believe what has been written. Unless somebody follows up with a proof, we will not be able to say anything on that.