Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has said members of Boko Haram are now using a strategy, by attacking soft targets in the North East as a way attracting attention, having almost lost the battle even as he confirmed that the insurgents are still in control of two Local Government Areas in Borno State.
Alhaji Kashim Shettima who spoke when the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir David Lawan, leadingd a six-man delegation on a condolence Visit to the Borno State Government, called on him, dismissed insinuation that the attacks were acts of authority of the insurgents.
“They (Boko Haram insurgents) are presently controlling two local governments in Borno State; Abadam and Mobbar and partially in Marte” even as he insisted that the bombings that were witnessed in recent times were only to show to the world that the terrorists were still around and have no relevance to their prowess.
“At some points, Boko Haram overran 20 out of our 27 local government areas in Borno State. They overran four local government areas in Adamawa and two in Yobe.”
He said that to forestall further attacks in mosques, he had summoned all Imams of mosques in Maiduguri, Jere and surrounding areas as well as district heads, village heads and those manning streets called lawans and Bulamas, for a security meeting which will be led by the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Elkanemi.
The governor said the meeting scheduled for today would discuss firm measures that might require policy pronouncements required to address the renewed attacks.
The SGF said, “the president on hearing what befell Adamawa and Borno states and the country decided to set up this team to come and commiserate with you.
“The president is always compassionate and emotional when things like these happen to the people of Borno state, Nigeria is indeed very sad that these things continue to reoccur so often.
“Defeating insurgency on the battle ground is different from defeating it from the urban areas. And knowing that their days are numbered, it is clear that they have changed their styles and strategies and have now resorted to bomb even in religious areas, no one would have expected that one would have woken up to explode himself in a mosque, killing Muslims and maiming innocent worshippers in mosque.
“The president has said we should highlight that security is everybody’s business, because some of these people live among us and the only way we can eliminate this menace is by being vigilant and observant. We should monitor the activities of people that seem strange and people that look strange and people that are strangers in our midst.” [myad]
