Governor of Borno State, Babagana Umara Zulum, has reacted to Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris’s dismissal of his last Tuesday’s concerns regarding the security situation in the State, saying “I believe he is naive of what is happening in the country. He doesn’t know what is ongoing in the country.”
Zulum had at an expanded State Security Council Meeting raised alarm over the resurgence of Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province (BH/ISWAP) terrorism due to renewed attacks, killings and kidnappings, complaining there has been little pushback from defence security forces, making it seem like Nigeria is losing ground to the terrorists.
Zulum specifically said that apart from attacking security forces and civilians, and killing and displacing tens of thousands of people, they are launching raids on military formations.
However, In a statement by Rabiu Ibrahim, his Special Assistant (Media), the Minister of Information denied saying that Governor Zulum assertions are categorically false, accusing the media of gross distortion of the Minister’s remarks.
“At no time did the Minister say, ‘Ignore Zulum, Boko Haram is not taking over Borno.’ Such a headline is not only sensational but deliberately crafted as a deliberate act of misinformation to stoke public misunderstanding and distract from the serious work the Federal Government is doing to address security challenges,” the statement said.
Weighing in, Zulum told journalists that the Information Minister is naïve of what is happening in the country while reiterating his administration’s commitment to tackle the resurgence of Boko Haram in the state.
According to Zulum: “I don’t want to join issues with the Minister of Information. I believe he is naive of what is happening in the country, he doesn’t know what is ongoing in the country. Our discussions during the Security Council meeting were not bad. We just raised an alarm that there is resurgence of Boko Haram activities in Borno State, and there is a need for Borno State government, the military as well as paramilitary, to work together in order to avert the looming situation. I think this is very good advice. Nothing has been said again.
“But most importantly, I want to assure you that we have been to Abuja. We met the Service Chiefs, especially the CDS (Chief of Defence Staff), Chief of Army Staff, Naval Staff, as well as Air staff. We received assurances from them that they will do everything possible to control the situation, and we are so happy with the response that we had from the Service Chiefs and the government of Bono State will continue to partner with the Nigerian military and the federal government of Nigeria with their view to reducing the menace of the insurgency.
“And I want to assure the people of Bono that Inshallah, under my watch, Boko Haram will not have the capacity to do what they did before. We shall do everything possible to curtail them. The Government of Borno State will provide more support to the Nigerian army. We shall strengthen the resilience of our civilian GTF, hunters and vigilante and most especially, I will live up to the expectations of the people of God by completely addressing the problem of insecurity.
“I believe, when we took over from 2019 to date, there is a very serious gap. What has been happening these days will not be allowed to remain unchanged.”
