Boko Haram attacked me to boost their standing ― Gov Shettima

Governor of Borno state, Kashim Shettima, who recently survived a Boko Haram attack on his convoy has said that the terrorists targeted him to give themselves a boost.

Speaking to State House correspondents after participating in a security meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, he said even though he was shaken by the attempt on his life, he would continue to visit his people to give them encouragement.

Shettima was recently attacked at Maiduguri-Gamboru Road while he was travelling for the campaign to solicit support for his senatorial bid on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: “The Boko Haram bask in the oxygen of publicity. By attacking my convoy, by targeting my person, they have gotten the much-needed boost.

“But then, as they say, if you cannot withstand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Leadership requires courage. I will go back to Gamboru Ngala next week and be ready to pay the supreme price if need be and I will not be going in a bulletproof car. I will go in a normal car like any other members of my convoy and expose myself to all the risks that they are bearing for me to be protected.

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“But believe me, no matter how long the night is, darkness must give away to the light of the dawn. No matter how stormy the weather may well be,  it won’t rain forever.

“This madness will come to an end because it is a fight between light and darkness, it is a fight between cause and justice.”

The governor asserted that despite the ongoing insurgent attacks in Borno, the situation cannot be compared with what obtained before the coming of the Buhari administration.

He explained: “When you juxtaposed the sorry state of the northeast four years ago and what it is now, you will admit there has been a great change in our fortune security wise.

“The threats and challenges are still there but when you put it in proper perspective, I think the president deserves commendation, not condemnation.

“Be that as it may, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. I am the chief security officer of the state, I should have the courage and believe me not that I am not petrified, no! John McCain says ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act in spite of it.’

“As the chief security officer of the state, the day I say I cannot go to a certain part of the state because of the insecurity, then what sort of confidence are you inspiring on the common man?”