BOKO HARAM: INSURGENTS NOT NORTHERNERS —NEF

THE Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has declared that it was wrong for anyone to claim that the Boko Haram insurgents currently wagging war against Nigeria are from the Northern Region of the country. NEF said it has done a lot to woo the Federal Government to overcome insurgency in the country, saying the government lacks the will power to act.
According to the forum, the Northerners were victims of insurgency being perpetrated against them, saying that as it was today, the original Jama’atul Ahlu Sunnah Li-Dawati Wal-Jihad, also known as Boko Haram, had been hijacked by the political class and they were the ones annexing the territory of Nigeria.
Addressing journalists in Bauchi State shortly after the forum’s strategic committee’s meeting, a member of the committee, Barrister Solomon Dalung, noted that though there was a conception of an Islamic orientation by those who initially formed the Boko Haram group, what was being witnessed now was far from the agenda of the group.
He stated that any attempt to link Northerners to insurgency was a deliberate move to blackmail the people of the North, submitting that the Federal Government lacked the will to put an end to insurgency in the country.
“The insurgents are not from Northern Nigeria. Northern Nigerians are victims of a conspiracy. Those who bombed Nigeria on the 1st of October, 2012 are not Northerners. The man who masterminded the bombing of five churches in Kaduna has a name John Odey. John Odey is not a Northerner.
“The three gentlemen who coordinated the bombing of Nyanya are not Northerners. The 400 people arrested in Maiduguri fighting are from the South-South. I disagree with anybody trying to insinuate that the insurgents are mostly from the North.
“Yes, there was a conception for an Islamic orientation spearheaded by Yusuf Muhammed but as it is today, all those who started Jama’atul Ahlu Sunnah Li-Dawati Wal-Jihad had been hijacked by the political class and they are the ones that are now annexing the territories of Nigeria,” Dalung said.
He added that, “If this is not corrected, then answer this question I asked: Those who bombed on Independence Day, are they Northerners? The three gentlemen who left the house of General Ihejirika as alleged by Davis to bomb Nyanya are not Northerners. John Odey who masterminded the bombing of five churches in Kaduna is not a Northerner.
“It is just a deliberate attempt to blackmail the people of the North. They started something which today is not what they are preaching. If not, then the Federal Government should have been able to overcome this thing.”
Source: Tribune