Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, says the north-west
region is worried over the possibility of Boko Haram insurgents relocating from
the north-east.
He said this on Thursday, during the inaugural edition of
the ‘Fountain Summit’, an event organised by the Ekiti government.
In May, Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram group, had
been reported killed by the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), a
breakaway faction of Boko Haram.
Although there had been previous announcements of the death
of Shekau, since May, there haven’t been public video appearances of the Boko
Haram leader.
Speaking further, the Kaduna governor said all Nigerians
should be concerned about security issues, irrespective of which region is more
affected by insecurity.
El-Rufai added that although Kaduna is facing security
challenges, investors are aware that their assets are safe.
“We have security challenges, but our investors know where
their assets are and they know that those assets are safe and we’ve never seen
the headlines of security affecting our inflow of investments,” he said.
“But we must work on improving security or more than that,
we must stop this ‘us versus them’ mentality and collaborate more closely.
“Remember once upon a time, Boko Haram was only in
north-east. Now, the biggest fear we have in the north-west is that they are
relocating to the north-west because they are being chased out from the
north-east by ISWAP.
“When they are chased out of the north-west, where do you
think they will come? Somewhere else. It is something we should all be
concerned about; not only federal and state collaboration, but also across the
country.
“Don’t see what is happening in Kaduna and say it is not my
problem. It will be your problem one day, unless it is solved.”
Speaking further on security issues in Kaduna, the governor
said there is a major difference between what is reported and how it reflects
the realities in the entire state.
“There is a major difference between security in headlines
and security in facts. Kaduna state has 46,000 square kilometres of land,” he
said.
“I joke with my south-east governor friends that the whole
of five states of the south-east can fit into Kaduna state, two and the half
times.
“This is the size of the state. We are smaller than Niger
state; we are smaller than Borno state. To cover that kind of area with 11,000
policemen is almost impossible.
“So there are many
ungovernable spaces in our state. But you see, when an incident occurs in one
part of the state, remotely connected with what is happening in Kaduna or Zaria
or in the metropolitan centres, people think the entire Kaduna state is unsafe.
“It is not true. Kaduna is not Lagos. One local government
area in Kaduna — Birnin Gwari local government area — is three times the size
of Lagos state. So, when something happens in Ikeja, it doesn’t mean that Epe
is affected. It is the same thing, but even larger in Kaduna state.”
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