SAN FRANCISCO, July 02, (THEWILL) – The Borno State Government Tuesday raised the alarm over what it alleged as a grand plot to set President Goodluck Jonathan against the state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, over the battle against the Boko Haram insurgency.
Special Adviser to the governor on media, Mallam Isa Gusau, who raised the alarm, pointed accusing fingers at a political cabal which he said was out to undermine the ongoing effort to end the Boko Haram crisis ravaging the Northeastern part of the country.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and obtained by THEWILL, Gusau alleged that the cabal had perfected a plan to cause disunity among the major proponents of the battle against Boko Haram, namely President Jonathan, Governor Shettima and the military.
Gusau said it had become necessary to alert Nigerians and other concerned stakeholders “on the activities of a political cabal, working very hard to ensure there is complete disunity between the Presidency, the military and the Borno State Governor; a plot that clearly undermines a joint effort that is critical in the ongoing fight against insurgency in troubled Borno State.”
Gusau said the State Government “would have ordinarily ignored the activities of the political group for their shoddiness but for the fact that keeping silent could affect existing coordination between the Presidency, the military and the Borno State Government and which when overlooked, would not be in the interest of Borno citizens, the Presidency, the Military and indeed other Nigerians.”
The statement said it was important to raise the alarm “Especially if one takes into account, the fact that disintegration between the three groups would cause cracks in a joint counter insurgency effort that had been in place since 2011 which had succeeded in relatively freeing some major towns in the State that were hitherto, under the full control of the Boko Haram insurgents, even though so much work still needs to done in the light of recent attacks across the State.”
Gusau alleged that the cabal, “made up of some discontented politicians, some serving and former leaders, has a single agenda which is to create problems between the Presidency, Military and the Borno Government in order to dubiously secure the political blessings of the Presidency and top ranks of the military with a view to seizing control of the Military, the police force and State Security Service, divert the security’s attention away from counter insurgency, drag them into politics, destabilise the polity and use security agencies in furthering their political ambitions ahead of the 2015 elections.”
He also alleged that: “The cabal has been deploying all possible means, including publishing falsehoods and spreading same on the social media to accuse the Borno Government of so many wrong doings that include unimaginable financial misappropriation that is beyond the income of the government, making efforts for personal contacts with a section of the military and other security agencies in Abuja and to feed them with falsehoods aimed at creating an impression that the Borno State governor and his administration were funding insurgents.”
The statement further alleged that the cabal has been making efforts to have personal contacts with close associates of President Jonathan and other presidential aides in order to induce them and talk them into misinforming and misleading the president falsely on Borno State Government and the governor.
It warned that the cabal also planned to gain the political patronage of the president and his team by lying that Governor Shettima had vowed to ensure that the President was not re-elected so as to sever any kind of relationship between the presidency, military and the Borno state governor and his administration.
Shetima’s aide said he was disturbed that the antics was selfishly motivated and at the “expense of the stability of Borno State and the Northeast as well as the success of the ongoing counter insurgency operation which, when achieved, would be of credit to the Presidency.”
According to Gusau, “in the early hours of Sunday, June 29, 2014, the cabal created a sham Facebook page, bearing the name and picture of Governor Kashim Shettima and started posting mischief; on Monday morning, the cabal published a complete falsehood raising all manners of allegations in line with their agenda, on a Newspaper associated with them, while on Tuesday morning, the same cabal planted a fictitious and evil minded interview on a website it created to pursue its agenda, claiming in the interview that a certain arrested and detained member of the Boko Haram (that is non-existent) had admitted to being sponsored by Governor Shettima and some officials close to him, all in a vicious and inhuman attempt to set the presidency and the military against the governor and the administration.”
The statement said: “It is important to note that successive Commanding Officers of the military, the police, DSS and other security agencies working in Borno State from 2011 when Governor Shettima was elected and sworn-in, till date, have serially acknowledged the outstanding support their formations have received from Governor Kashim Shettima and his administration in the last threeyears.”
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