Both Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State and his counterpart in Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, on Sunday distanced themselves from President Goodluck Jonathan’s criticism of North East governors that they should be blamed for the insurgency in their states for neglecting education in their domains.
Jonathan, at a North East rally of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bauchi, Bauchi State on Saturday had condemned some of the governors for trying to make the Federal Government responsible for their own failure to take firm actions to reduce the incentives for insurgency among the youth in their respective states.
The President had claimed that the failure of the northern governors to provide basic education for their people was responsible for the spread of insurgency in the region.
But Shettima, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Communications, Isa Gusau, said inasmuch as he would not like to join issues with the President over his statement, Jonathan could not have been referring to the Borno State governor because unlike his colleagues in the zone, he had not spent eight years in office.
The statement said: “Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has the highest regard for the President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and will therefore, not join issues with him. The statement in reference does not even apply to Governor Shettima because while the statement was said to have referred to governors in the North-east that have served for eight years in office, Governor Shettima has served for less than three years and it is to the knowledge of everyone that in the case of Borno State, Governor Shettima inherited the Boko Haram crisis in May 2011.
“As at the time he came in, insurgents were freely carrying weapons on the streets of Maiduguri, the state capital, there were serial cases of assassination and explosions, today, Maiduguri is relatively safe and calm except for isolated instances. Governor Shettima has left no one in doubt about his resolute commitment to addressing the issue, while working with the federal government which has the constitutional responsibility to safeguard the lives and property of all Nigerians.”
The statement added that Jonathan had shown increased commitment to fighting insurgency and the governor was hopeful the situation would soon get better.
But it expressed the belief that the President might have been misquoted or misunderstood on the instance of attributing the insurgency to lack of provision of basic education by state governments.
The statement added: “This is because the Minister for Special Duties and chairman of Presidential Committee of Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North was well reported by the media confirming what we all know in Borno State that many well schooled graduates, including first class degree holders, were found to be members and even leaders of the Boko Haram. In addition, the sect has set ablaze many functional and transformed schools in Borno. They have always targeted primary and secondary schools. Recently, they attacked a Federal Government College and the governor knows that the president very well understands that the crisis is about misguided spiritual belief and want on destruction of lives and property. Recruits are sometimes paid as little as N5,000 to set our schools ablaze.
“It is agreeable that not much has been done to create jobs to engage the youths so as to discourage them and this is a collective fault that is shared not only by all tiers of government but by community leaders and in some cases, citizens unwilling to be gainfully engaged. It is however a good development that Mr President has since shown commitment to partner states and local governments of the North-east to advance the economic fortunes of the North-east and this effort, which should be aggressively implemented and sustained is a way forward to addressing the problems in the immediate and long term.”
Also, Nyako slammed Jonathan for his comment.
Nyako, who described the President’s claim as unfortunate, insisted that it was the poor leadership exhibited by the Jonathan administration that had aided and abetted the rising spate of terrorism in the North.
Nyako said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that if there is any proof of bad governance, it will be located in the way and manner the president executes his priorities and the kind of statements he and his spokespersons make.
“Governors are not and cannot be held responsible for security challenges since they have no control over security apparatus. The president is the Commander-in-Chief with powers over the armed forces, police and other security agencies.”
ThisDay.
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