Babangida Defends Boko Haram?

                                 

                                 
                                             * Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu

Niger State Governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu, on Monday said the radical Islamist sect popularly known as Boko Haram was not formed to destabilise  President Goodluck Jonathan's administration as claimed by some group and concerned people.
The governor made the statement when he received the minister of state for works, Amb. Bashir Yuguda.
Aliyu, who stated that such insinuation was erroneous and misleading, expressed worries over the inability of the federal government to unveil the sponsors of the Islamist sect after five years of perpetrated bloodbath.  
The governor reiterated that Boko Haram should be wiped out in three months with the support of foreign countries, noting that the international communities assisting Nigeria in the fight against terrorism should not stay in the country for too long.

"We could not have spent four or five years fighting an insurgent group, and we have not been able to crush them. Whatever we do, we must realise that there is need for peace for any growth in gross domestic product (GDP)" Aliyu said. "Boko Haram did not start with the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. Maybe
that is why we have not been able to nip this in the bud, because there is this belief by some people that Boko Haram was essentially created to stop Jonathan from being president. I do not think we should continue with that belief. I believe that might have stopped the crushing of Boko Haram at the right time. In this country, we must be bold to say that we must fight extremism in whatever nature; whether political, religious or social extremism, we must fight it.  We must appreciate the need for moderation. It used to be like a rumour but I saw an interview in the print media that ‘oh, they are killing their people; let them continue to do it.’ This is a social malaise that has come. You and I know that there is an intense competition between those of us that have gone for western education and those that have gone to Almajiri system. The only beautiful part of it is that some of us have gone through it too".
The governor pointed out that the country should consider her social fabrics as he condemned the comparison between the Niger Delta militants and the Boko Haram sect.
According to him, it was the iniquity committed in Nigeria by some of our leaders that have brought about the evils executed by the sect.

Source: Leadership