Shehu Borno Gov Shettima
Shehu Borno Gov Shettima
Boko Haram: Why We Host Extra-Ordinary Meeting of
Stakeholders in Borno- Governor Kashim Shettima
Your royal highnesses and our elders, I will like to start by
saying that the aim of convening this important meeting is not to
pass blames or to pass any kind of verdict on our security
agencies. I think the most inhuman way to go is to gather and
condemn those who are putting their lives on the line and giving
their lives in efforts to find peace. We are principally here as
a family, as a people all affected by the situation in Borno State,
to discuss suggestions that will hopefully contribute to combined
ongoing efforts towards addressing the problem.
For seven years, we held our regular security council meetings.
I from to time consult with some of the participants here. However,
I never for once convene an extraordinary meeting of this nature
because, frankly speaking, I was avoiding a sort of dramatization
or being sensational about our challenges in Borno State.
Without being insensitive to the realities of our situation, I
feel deeply pained whenever Borno is being discussed on the basis
of helpless weakness. I prefer to assume a position of strength; a
position of normalcy and a character of being incurably optimistic.
It was in these regards that we created a full-fledged Ministry of
Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement and deployed
enormous public resources to rebuild more than 30,000 homes of
citizens, hospitals, water installations, local government
secretariats, schools and palaces of traditional rulers. It was
with the same mind that we kept on pushing for voluntary and
dignified return of displaced citizens to safe and rebuilt
communities. My greatest wish was and still is, not to bequeath
Boko Haram challenges and IDP Camps to my successor. We wanted to,
and still want to get Borno fully back to normal days. Sometimes, I
unconsciously find myself boasting that Borno is safer than Lagos.
I simply feel very bad to sound pessimistic about Borno. I so much
believe in optimism. Of course, I know that in governance,
responding to some situations demand a combination of being both
optimistic and realistic.
The realities, Your Royal highnesses, invited participants, is
that while so much was achieved by our gallant military men and
women, we are today faced with serious challenges in Borno State.
But then, these challenges should strengthen our abiding faith and
resolve to continually do whatever we can, in support of our
military, the police, the DSS, our Civilian JTF, all para-military
agencies and political authorities at the federal level, to end the
Boko Haram insurgency.
I have met the President a number of times, including few weeks
ago. I have led our national assembly members to the President and
in all our discussions, we all saw on the face, in words and
actions of the President, absolute sincerity in terms of his deep
concern, his empathy and his compassion towards our plight in the
northeast, particularly in Borno. President Muhammadu Buhari is
without the slightest doubt, devoted to the fight against Boko
Haram. I believe that service chiefs, the IGP, the DG of DSS and
heads of all para-military agencies share the commitment of Mr
President. Most importantly, troops in the front lines, have with
their own lives, proved their commitment in the service of our
country and in obedience to the President, Commander In Chief. The
President has mobilized world leaders in support of Nigeria’s fight
against Boko Haram. He has fostered regional cooperation and he
supports troops.
Some persons have asked why I have not criticised the Buhari
government or the Nigerian military over situations in Borno. My
response to them is that unlike in previous years when I was
treated as an enemy of the Presidency, I have from 2015 to date,
gained unfettered access to the President. I see the
Commander-In-Chief at the shortest request and I tell him my
concerns, he listens to me with keen interest and in most cases, he
takes measures. I have not had reason to be frustrated with the
Presidency unlike previous years. Let me say that even under the
previous administration, I regularly supported and defended the
military. When I said in February 2014, tha the military was not
being well equipped, it was not a comment by design, it was a
spontaneous reaction which came out of frustration and it was in
defense of the soldiers being killed in front lines. I knew the
problems. Some people have said I was later vindicated. Nigerians
can bear witness that from 2011 to date, I prefer to speak from
position of strength rather than a position of hopelessness. I
prefer to inspire our military and citizens. I prefer to make
security matters as discrete as possible. There were times I
managed to see the former President but our meetings were always
under rush. There were times I resorted to writing him for the
record. I remember one specific instance I wrote a strong letter in
2013, over serious concerns raised by the Nigerian Air Force
command in Borno State, and I have to admit that President Jonathan
took immediate measures on that.
As a state government, we have done and will continue to do
everything humanly possible in support of the fight against Boko
Haram. We have given very serious financial, moral and political
support to the counter-insurgency. All security agencies and the
federal government (including the previous Jonathan administration)
have strongly acknowledged the role of the Civilian JTF in the
successes recorded by the military. From 2013 to date, Borno State
Government has been solely responsible for funding the Civilian JTF
in terms of their training, their allowances, deployment,
operational vehicles and their kits. We will continue to support
the Civilian JTF, our military, the police and all other security
agencies. We have secretly been engaging hunters in some areas
without making noise. We believe security of lives is what makes
government legitimate.
Your royal highnesses, invited participants, everyone here has
been playing one or more roles in the fight against Boko Haram.
This fight is a collective one that affects all of us. We all have
stakes in the peace and stability of Borno and this is why we chose
to hold an extraordinary security meeting with carefully chosen
participants. There are many important stakeholders that were not
invited and it is not because they do not matter but because we
wanted to minimize our number. We deliberately did not invite
persons on individual basis in order to prevent perceptions or
feelings of alienation. Even as this gathering is constituted, it
is too large from a security point of view. Nevertheless, we are at
a point in which we needed to convene a meeting of this nature so
as to form a broader and more inclusive platform to listen to each
other, to hopefully generate some new ideas. To chart a new course
and to also rebuild public confidence. Leadership requires building
and nurturing the hopes of citizens. Times like ours require all of
us raising the hopes of citizens, but these hopes should not be
blind ones. They should be based on the measures we take.
Their Royal highnesses are permanent leaders and custodians of
our communities. We politicians come and go, royal fathers do not
have tenure of office. Our elders here are the conscience of our
communities. They stood for Borno when it was impossible to move
freely in our state capital. Our national and state assembly
members are representatives of our people. I do not think it is
wise to see security as purely an executive thing. I believe in
productive and strategic cooperation. We all need ourselves to move
faster. The legislature is sometimes the most authoritative in
relating with organs of the Federal Government. All the groups we
invited have roles to play. We need the buy-in and ideas of the
NLC, whose members have been victims in different places attacked.
We need the NBA whose lawyers deal with issues of public rights
including being defendants of suspects under prosecution and who
should guide us. We need our retired military elders in the
Nigerian Legion whose experiences of yesterday can be benefit to
this gathering. We invited journalists. We need the NUJ leadership
to as stake-holders, help us manage information in ways that will
help the state and not destabilize it. I have in the course of work
realized that the best way to relate with journalists is to
sometimes take them into confidence. We invited unions of transport
and road workers whose hundreds of members move around the state
and have come across different security situations. They see so
much on the roads. We invited representatives of our tertiary
institutions, religious leaders and management of markets for us to
think ahead of insurgents. Knowing the Boko Haram, they may send
our minds to the north while planning to head the south. We need to
strengthen security measures in schools, mosques and churches,
markets and all public places across Borno State. We should not be
taken unawares. We invited the council on women societies because
women and our children constitute the largest number of traumatized
and displaced victims of the Boko Haram insurgency. They bear the
brunt.
Your royal highnesses, elders, national and state assembly
members, heads of security establishments, members of the state
executive council, chairmen, representatives of various groups, I
will like to appeal to all of us that our meeting should not be
driven by emotions. We should speak with logic. We should see all
of here as stakeholders with genuine interest in the peace and
security of Borno. We should speak with mutual respect and with
trust in the sincerity of each other. Our focus should largely be
about finding solutions. We all know the situation of things. Let
us as a family with equal stakes, suggest solutions that will
insha’Allah, contribute to addressing our problems.
I wish us a meaningful meeting and not a tea party. I will at
this point thank and request our friends in the media to allow us
hold a closed door meeting. I will like to say also that we are not
issuing a communique. Whatever we resolve will be transmitted to
the President, Commander In Chief in writing and not for public
consumption.
Shettima, Governor of Borno State gave the opening remarks at an
Emergency Extraordinary Security Meeting with Diverse Groups which
lasted till midnight of Monday in Maiduguri.