Shettima warns against politicisation of insurgency funds

Governor Kashim Shettima has advised against the politicisation of a billion dollars approved for putting a final end to the Boko-Haram insurgency which has lingered for about nine years.

He gave the warning when the House of Representatives Committee on Army led by member Ossy Prestige visited him in government house Maiduguri on Thursday.

The governor noted that the funds approved to help troops was a welcome development and should never have become a subject of needless political discussion within the polity.

Shettima who is the chair of northern governors went on: “The $1Billion that we approved for the execution of this war should be divorced from politics and sentiments. If there is a crisis in the Niger-Delta or any part of this country, we owe that obligation to posterity and humanity to tow a common line irrespective of our differences in political affiliation, religious persuasion, sectional or tribal background.

“‎‎We have to support and commend the Nigerian Armed Forces because they are doing a very good job. I want you to support them in every way possible in order to boost their morale”

He argued that what was going on in the northeast war theatre was peculiar and needs special attention adding that instead of politicising the amount set aside for the fixing of the problem, Nigerians should restructure their mindsets which will give rise to a restructured leadership.

Governor, Kashim Shettima described the members who came in to see things on the ground for themselves before the next appropriation for the army as courageous leaders who dared to make a mark.

House Army chair Prestige had hinted the governor that they were in Maiduguri to see things for themselves considering the fact that they are in another appropriation year where wrongs need to be corrected in the ongoing 2018 appropriation.

He commended the Governor for his zest and unique leadership qualities inherent only in soldiers at battlefronts when it comes to managing the polity in Borno state since the insurgency started..

‎“Mostly, we see you in the war front, in those areas where we think only those trained in military capability should be. So we deemed it fit to pay you this courtesy call to encourage you in all your efforts in making sure that this state is freed from terrorist. ‎

“There is no way we can come to a state like Borno without visiting the chief security officer whom we all know has been in the forefront of this war despite the fact that he is a civilian.

“We the members of Committee on Army have come to the Northeast to look at the developments in the Military purchases of arms and ammunition to fight terrorism in the Northeast and as members of the Committee on Army, we have the constitutional responsibility to oversight the army.

” The present government had done so much in giving their best in terms of provision of arms and ammunition to fight terrorism and it is also our constitutional right to see that those things that we appropriated in the National Assembly were judiciously put to used in those areas,” Ossy told Shettima.

“Anything that affects a fisherman in Eket invariably affects a groundnut farmer in Kauran Namoda. We are one nation tied to a common destiny and for you to come and see the tragedy unfolding in the Northeast -which sadly Borno is at the centre, is a welcome development. If the war will come to an end, it is the greatest gift we are going bequeath to the future generation” Shettima said.

Other members of the entourage were Adamu Entonu, Owui Eme, Abdullahi Kakuwa,  Ema Udende and Johnson Oghuma