By Ambrose Okehi
For the past three and half years, Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno state, has been the major target of the Boko Haram insurgents. This is because of his outspokenness and collaboration with the security agencies to curb the excesses of the insurgents in the state.
The poor security situation in the state may have forced the governor on Monday, February 11, 2019, to call for a ”collective support to the Multi-national Joint Task Force, MNJTF, and the Nigeria Army to enhance the successful Campaign against the Islamic Fundamentalists in the north east geo-political region.
The governor who was determined to see insurgents defeated in the war had pleaded with the people of the state to bury their
Note that the Borno state governor, had at different occasions met President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the state security matter and the activities o the insurgents. Last January, Shettima had led Borno elders and National Assembly to the Presidential villa with some observations and ten demands for urgent intervention.
Buhari was said to have promised to raise the standard of the Nigeria armed forces and get the resources to encourage them to do better in the fight against the insurgents in the region. But that was how far he could go. On F Wednesday, February 13, 2019, the Jihadists were said to laid an ambush on Shettima and his entourage on their way to Gamboru Ngala a border town between Nigeria and Cameroun for a Cmpaign in the town market. The governor who was stepping down after eight years in office had been Campaigning to go to Senate but was unlucky to run into the insurgents who said to be after his life. He was said to have escaped by the whiskers but some of his aides were not lucky.
Eyewitness account confirmed that four people were killed in the attack and a number of others kidnapped on a convoy of vehicles carrying the governor and Babagana Umaru, the All Progressive Congress, APC, governorship Candidate , of the north eastern state of Borno. for a Campaign. The Jihadist fighters were said to have laid an ambush near the town of Dikwa on Tuesday, an indication that that there is a mole with the government House who may have given out the governor’s Campaign schedule to them to trail him.
Note that the Gamboru axis in Borno state is a notorious area of Boko Haram activities controlled by a faction of Boko Haram loyal to Abubakar Shekau. the arrow head of the insurgents. The intervention of the Multinational Joint Task Force, MJTF, forced the attackers to take to heels but not without a fight. Many vehicles in the governors who were caught in the cross fire were forced to return to Maiduguri, the sta Capital but the governor motorcade which had passed continued the journey to the border Community before returning to Maiduguri the next day. This how bad the situation is in Borno, a security source said.
