BOKO HARAM: Presidency, Governor Nyako Engage In War Of Words Over Genocide Claim
The Presidency described a memo written by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State to the Northern Governors' Forum as a sad betrayal of trust by a major beneficiary of Nigerian nation.
The memo highlighted Governor Nyako's fears that the Presidency may intentionally not be doing enough to solve the many problems of insecurity in the North. Reacting to the claims, the Presidency said the Governor's positions smacks of "an unmitigated leadership disaster."
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the content of the governor's letter betrays his lack of a sense of history. According to Okupe, the memo portrayed the governor as incapable of rising above parochial sentiments as a result of his deep rooted disdain for facts and truth in public discourse.
The SSA, who said the memo is extremely divisive, added that it was intentionally meant to incite one section of the country against the other.
"Governor
Nyako claims that President Goodluck Jonathan is from the Eastern
region which according to him was responsible for the killing of
Northern political elites on the 15th of January 1966. This is a very
disgraceful remark by the governor and a pathetic embarrassment to the
Nigerian Military from where Nyako derives his career antecedents. It is
certainly a
reflection of the Governor’s ignorance and unpatriotic
inclinations."
"Similarly, the
Adamawa State governor referred to the Boko Haram terrorist group as a
'phantom organization' which he believes does not exist! How
hypocritical? In his unwise and desperate attempt to demonise the
Federal Government, Governor Nyako likened the military operations
against insurgents to the activities of German dictator, Adolf Hitler.
"In
his befuddled mind and apparent hallucination, the Federal Government
should be held responsible for the activities of insurgents in the North
East and the sad killings, wanton destruction, murder and kidnapping of
school children as well as other horrendous activities of Boko Haram
should be hung on the neck of the Federal Government!
"He
therefore invited his colleague northern governors to join him to sue
the Federal Government. This definitely defies common sense and portrays
Mr. Nyako as unfit for the hallowed position of a state governor.
"It
is obvious that Governor Nyako's opposition to the declaration of a
State of Emergency in three affected states of the North East as well as
his repeated calls for the withdrawal of the Military from troubled
states without any credible alternative or security road map, is an open
endorsement of the activities of the insurgents which is meant to
provide them unrestricted opportunity to further unleash terror on
innocent citizens in order to precipitate chaos, further instability,
mayhem and anarchy, a situation which they intend to exploit to
undermine the administration and truncate our growing democracy. This,
Nigerians will surely not allow to happen."
Okupe restated the federal government's "continuous
determination to defeat terror and restore peace to every part of
northern Nigeria so that every law abiding citizen can go about with
his/her socio economic pursuit without let or hindrance."Nyako retaliates
Reacting to the presidency's statement same day, Governor Nyako said the response by the Presidency to his memo to Northern Governors has further proved that those running the Federal Government are too arrogant and confused in their handling of the affairs of the country.
Accusing the Presidency of telling lies and feeding the public with untruth in its response to his memo to fellow Governors of the northern states on the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic sect and other issues of insecurity, Nyako, in a statement by the Director, Press and Public Affairs in the Government House, Ahmad Sajoh, said it is now very clear that President Goodluck Jonathan is very complacent about the insecurity in the northern part of the country.
According to him, "They
arrogate all knowledge and wisdom to themselves alone. We hold the
statements we released as true and challenge those who claim to have a
sense of history to cut-off the use of jaundiced semantics to address
the issues raised in this and several other documents before it. By
telling black lies about the attack on Governor Nyako which was never
investigated nor ascertained, the Presidency is providing further proof
that it knows more than it is willing to admit in the whole saga."
The statement accused the federal government of misleading the populace on all fronts saying, "Feeding
the public with untruth is becoming a new culture in Abuja. The
statement on the supposed rescue of the abducted girls is enough to
prove that. It is a pity that responsible and supposedly educated people
could manufacture statements and attribute them to others just to
create an escape route from their glaring failures. None of the
statements attributed to Governor Nyako by the Presidency were ever made
by him. They were all manufactured for lack of a sound counter
argument."
The Adamawa helmsman challenged the President to
react directly to the issues raised in the memo instead of making up
statements that were not part of the correspondence in question.
He continued, "If
indeed the Presidency is not complacent about the killings in the
country how come the President went dancing a day after several citizens
were killed in Abuja? If they claim that Nyako does not deserve to be
Governor, are they fit to be where they are? When we say the Boko Haram
phenomenon is phantom we are talking based on several testimonies by the
President.
"At one point he
said there are Boko Haram in his government, at another point he said
they are ghosts he cannot dialogue with ghosts, yet recently he admitted
that the young poverty stricken persons so far arrested cannot afford
the guns they carry. And we say to them you have full command and
control of the Armed Forces and security outfits with all the
Intelligence units, investigate their activities, expose their patrons,
sponsors and strategic commanders and arrest them."
He challenged the Presidency to expose the source of the arms used by the insurgents.
"We
still repeat the earlier questions we raised. How come the insurgents
move about unchallenged at night in our states under so called Emergency
Rule when we have a night time curfew in place? How come the insurgents
operate for many hours unchallenged when we have military units all
over the place? How come the insurgents move with a large convoy of
vehicles through routes that have 24 hours military check points? How
come statements by the Presidency and other authorities in Abuja are
always at variance with realities on ground at the theatres of conflict?
We want answers not insults or empty rhetoric."
On
allegation against the Governor that he is creating divisions among the
people with his utterances, the Adamawa State Government said President
Jonathan is the chief culprit in this.
"On
the issue of creating divisions among the people, no one does it better
than the Presidency that urges its backers to direct its people to
implicate innocent Northerners in bombings they know nothing of, or one
whose known official uses online sources to implicate someone it chooses
to hate for no just cause. This Presidency also encourages some of its
spokespersons to speak ill of certain persons and religion without a
reprimand."
He accused the Presidency of being the most divisive administration in the country to date: "This
is the most divisive leadership in the history of this country and it
also the most desperate to cling to power even at the cost of several
lives of innocent citizens. Unfortunately it is also the most inept,
confused, greedy, corrupt and incompetent regime ever. On the corruption
mantra, while the Presidency is fond of asking Governors to account for
allocations given, we challenge them to live by the same token, declare
what you got and account for it."
He accused the Presidency of not executing project that funds have been disbursed for. According to him, "After
all we now have proof that certain projects which are not executed have
been announced as completed such as the Hong to Mubi road in our state
which the Minister of Information announced its execution at their
Bauchi Rally. Meanwhile, someone should help us ask the President under
what Budget sub-head did he get the money he allegedly gave Governor
Kwankwaso to bribe delegates to vote for him which was allegedly
diverted.
"We think rather
than vent their venom in insulting people, presidential spokespersons
and media managers should do better by re-focussing the man to be more
open minded and competent in grappling with the myriads of challenges
facing the nation," Nyako said.
The governor had in the now
controversial memo accused the administration of President Jonathan of
carrying out genocide against northern states with impunity. The
Governor said the adverse security situation in the North in particular
and Nigeria in general is being felt by all genuine stakeholders but
lamented that while every state government is doing everything possible
using virtually all its resources to stem the tide of near disaster
facing the North, the present federal administration has become a
government of impunity run by an evil-minded leadership for the
advancement of corruption.Nyako regretted that the protection of life and property of innocent citizens in Northern Nigeria and recognising their human rights and voting right in the forthcoming general elections is no longer a cardinal principle of the administration.
"Clearly the
victims of the Administration's evil-mindedness are substantially
Northern Nigerians. The administration is bent on bringing wars in the
North between Muslim and Christians and within them and between one
ethnic group and another or others in various communities in the region.
No wonder, we in the Northern Nigeria are now facing an organised
ethno-religious campaigns of hate fuelled by the federal administration
to make communities which hitherto have remained peaceful for centuries
to start killing the minorities in their midst and to facilitate mass
killings of the innocent and the arbitrary arrests and torture of elders
of minority ethnic groups in the various Northern communities."
Listing occurrences of violence the governor wrote,
"We, in Adamawa State, have been battling this heinous machination in
the last three years. We also saw it as the Beginning of Genocide.
Genocide kingpins are now on prowl in Northern Nigeria! Fulani
communities in parts of the North who have been in their locations for
over 100 years are now being raided and uprooted by paid killers within
the Nigerian Army for the satisfaction of the Federal administration
instead of being protected as citizens with their rights and dignity
safe-guarded."
He observed,
"The Federal administration’s affront to frame Northerners is also an
open secret. Senior Special Assistant to Mr. President tried to hoodwink
us into believing that Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was kingpin of
Boko-Haram. Mr. Henry Okah, the convicted leader of MEND also stated
under oath that he was being put under pressure by the administration to
implicate senior Northern elements such as Generals Ibrahim Babangida
and Muhammadu Buhari as financiers of Boko Haram terrorism. We are in
deep trouble. We have begun to sleep with ‘both our eyes widely open."
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