Borno state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima yesterday came hard on former president, Goodluck Jonathan whom he accused of not doing enough to alleviate the sufferings of the people of the state, including Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the face of attacks by Boko Haram insurgents.
The governor spoke through his deputy, Zanna Umar Mustapha, at Government House in Maiduguri, while receiving relief materials donated to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS)
He regretted that the Jonathan administration only gave N200 million to support the state within the last four years as against the N4 billion which was given to the Adamawa State government.
Noting that his government has spent about N11 billion to cater for the victims of insurgency, he stressed that it was a good thing that Nigerians asked for change hence installing a new government.
Shettima claimed that with the sack of 22 local government areas by insurgents which led to the displacement of over one million persons, the federal government under Jonathan only gave the state N200 million whereas Adamawa state which lost about six local government areas received about N4 billion from the federal government within the same period.
According to him, “I must say here that the then federal government led by former president Goodluck Jonathan, did not pay attention to the people of Borno at all. For the four years that we were engaging the insurgents, the only thing the government gave us was N200 million.
“Jonathan and his entire cabinet were playing politics with issue of insurgency and Boko Haram in Borno. We lost 22 local government completely to insurgency, where as Adamawa state lost about six local governments and Adamawa state was given N4 billion,” he said.
The Governor went on to state that the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, were in and out of the state during Jonathan’s administration without taking full charge of humanitarian situation of the displaced persons.
This was as he pointed out that after the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, NEMA officials visited the state some days ago, indicating readiness to now take over full responsibility of the situation.
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