Governor Kashim Shettima
Borno State Government on Sunday expressed disappointment over what it called “baseless allegations by a member of the House of Representatives, representing Bama, Ngala and Kala-Balge Federal Constituency of Borno State, Honourable AbdulRahaman Terab.
Terab, who recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had alleged that his supporters from Bama, who were among internally displaced persons taking refuge at some of the camps established by the State Government in Maiduguri were being starved of food and molested.
Borno Government said it was surprising that an educated person chose to make “very childish allegations because defeat stares him on the face ahead of the rescheduled elections”.
The statement further noted that “It is unthinkable how a camp that has the active involvement of both the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency that is under the PDP-led Federal Government as well as security agencies deployed by the Federal Government, would deny food to supporters of a politician that is affiliated to the ruling PDP, which produced the Federal Government of Nigeria that controls NEMA and security agencies.
“There is the likelihood that Terab doesn’t know the composition of those that play roles in the affairs of all the camps. The Borno State Government established the camps and it runs it but of course with the active participation of NEMA and security agencies. Terab must have thought he could score cheap political blackmail out of ignorance or deliberately ignoring the facts.
“From what we know, Terab is one of those representatives of Borno citizens who are opposed to IDPs being allowed to vote during elections.
“For instance, during a stakeholders meeting organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abuja barely two months ago, Honourable Terab to the shock of all participants at that meeting, clearly opposed to IDPs taking part at the elections even when most members of his constituents who have unfortunately been displaced constitute a good percentage of the All Progressives Congress, APC, supporters.
“Apparently, Terab wasn’t preparing for re-election into the House of Representatives. He had warmed up to contest the Governorship position as candidate of the PDP until he was deceived, like many others like him, leading to the emergence of a contentious Governorship candidate. So, with the Governorship ticket lost, Terab had to fall back to the House of Representatives whereas he disconnected himself from that contest. He knows for sure that he doesn’t stand a chance of being reelected.
“This is the only reason he has resorted to blackmail as a desperate strategy to create chaos and confusion. We are aware that like Terab, there are some of his kind, who are said to be holding meetings with a dubious plan of having the Federal Government take complete control of all IDPs with an intent of using or ignored the camps for whatever purpose that is political.
“Terab’s press briefing is part of their steps to lay basis for that. It’s surprising that those with that plan have forgotten that the Federal Government has no constitutional powers of taking over the control of Borno citizens or that of any State. It has never happened and it will not start with Borno. Besides, why didn’t they push for the Federal Government to take full control of the IDPs until now that we are approaching elections after Borno State Government has since day one, been very responsive in catering for its citizens as a matter of constitutional obligation?
“We advise Terab to direct his energy to issues-based campaign and not a plan that is dead on arrival. If IDPs have problems, they should have spoken about them. NEMA, SEMA and security agencies are there in all the camps. It is really unfortunate that with all the problems Borno is facing, some citizens of the State have chosen to undermine the people of the State through different means all in the name of politics,” the statement concluded.
تعليقات