Boko Haram: Governor Shettima calls for calm

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, has called on citizens of the State to be calm, with a reas­surance that security forces were making efforts to safe­guard lives and property in the areas the area insurgents planned to attack yesterday.

The governor, who spoke in Maiduguri, however regretted the attack in Monguno, head­quarters of Monguno Council, in northern part of the state, where lost of lives were said to have been recorded, which also led to the exodus of many citi­zens that are now taking refuge in different parts of the state.
The governor further said that government was screening and taking records of surviving victims from Monguno with a view to accommodate them and offer them immediate pal­liatives as internally displaced persons.
He stated that his adminis­tration was regularly providing all necessary support to armed forces involved in counter in­surgency operations across the state and would continue to do everything humanly pos­sible until territories seized by insurgents are reclaimed and sustainable peace and stability achieved in all parts of the state.
He said: “Our armed forces gallantly repelled attacks on parts of Borno State today. We must commend their patriotic efforts. We are very much in touch with leaders of security forces and we will continue to afford them all the support they need as we have always done from our first day in office till date. So long as we have the resources, we will continue to regard the efforts to reclaim peace, our number one area of commitments. I want to reas­sure the good people of Borno State that we will never abdicate from our responsibility as those they entrusted with leadership. I was supposed to be in Abuja this morning for an important engagement but I have can­celled all engagements outside Borno State.
“We will remain with our people through thick and thin as we have been doing as a mat­ter of constitutional and moral covenant. I condole with fami­lies, friends and associates of any innocent citizen that might have lost loved ones as a result of the unfortunate incident in parts of the state. I commiserate with those that might have suf­fered injuries and lost property. I assure the people of Borno State that we are very commit­ted to our duty as their leaders. We have never forgotten about the situation of things in Borno, not for one second. We are not just consistently troubled by happenings, we have, like I ex­plained last month during the 2015 budget presentation, been working very hard.
“Recently, we went round the northern Nigeria, meeting different past and present lead­ers, we secured the commitment of every one of them we met, especially those geographically affected. Along with them, pres­sures are being combined and channeled to the right authori­ties to ensure that the insurgen­cy problems are brought to an end as quickly as possible.
“We are very hopeful that our efforts will eventually yield re­sults that will be evident.”