Boko Haram is FG’s creation -Shehu of Bama

The Shehu of Bama Kingdom, Bornu State, Shehu Kyari Ibn Umar El-Kanemi, has accused the federal government for allowing Boko Haram insurgents enough space to operate, adding the growth of the insurgents group was a failure of the state.

Speaking at the unveiling of the Ejike Chukwu Educational Foundation in Etekwuru Egbema in Ohaji Egbema LGA of Imo State where dozens of university undergraduates were enrolled for scholarship,

The Shehu, who spoke through his representative and the former Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Baba-kura Kaigama Kaigama accused the federal government of not initially taking the issue of Boko Haram very serious, a development he said led to the sect gaining more grounds with its attendant human losses.

He saïd, “Why I said Boko Haram is a creation of the state is that at a time the federal government and the government of the day didn’t take it serious. They didn’t come in to arrest the situation at the beginning of the uprising. They became a law unto themselves. That’s why I said it was the failure of the state.

“If they could kill somebody like General Muhammed Shuwa, who was one of the excellent generals that fought to keep Nigeria as one. General Shuwa was killed but up to date nothing happened and nobody has been prosecuted”

While acknowledgng that President Muhammadu Buhari’s take over reduced diminished the insurgents, the Shehu lamented that the situation has got worse as they attack and kill people on daily basis.

“Though Boko Haram is now a shell of its former self. They need to be mopped up because they are still around, rampaging and attacking soft targets. Just yesterday, there was a bomb blast in Maiduguri where a number of died. So they need to be mopped up”.

He commended the people of Egbema people for allowing peaceful coexistence, which he said had allowed their children become beneficiaries of university scholarships.

Also speaking, frontline politician and business mogul, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu stated that seeing a number of young children filing out to be enrolled for scholarships, gave him a sense of sadness about what is happening in parts of North state where children were seized and denied education.

He said Iwuanyanwu Foundation was initiating a move to get female pupils in the affected northern states to come down south to complete their education. He called on any individual or organisation offering scholarships to consider female students in the North so as to encourage them to go to school.

The special guest of honour and former Nigeria’s permanent representatives in United Nations, Professor, Ibrahim Bambari described education as a powerful key with which anybody can open and change the world.

He said by the scholarship offered to the indigent pupils of the area to various universities across the country, he would have helped in reducing the number of people that might likely be involved in restiveness in the area.

Gambari charged the beneficiaries not to underrate themselves as a result of their background but explore every opportunity that come their way.

He called on oil companies operating in the area to assist such individuals and organisations like Ejike Chukwu Foundation in their bid to change the world with education, adding that anybody who values education should do his bit to support the scheme.

President of the foundation, Ejike Chukwu said he derived joy from helping the needy because there were families that could not train their children in higher institutions, hence the need to set up the foundation.

He said it was his intention to use education to break the barriers of poverty in the society particularly in the oil producing areas of the of the state, because to him, with education, restiveness within the oil bearing communities would stop.

‘’The two most important things in my life are my love for God and the downtrodden. I am worried by the high level of illiteracy in our society and I am determined to help as many people as possible to overcome this debilitating challenge,” he said.

Chukwu said he will be working with renowned education foundations across the world such as Rockefeller, Ford and Dangote Foundations to extend the gesture beyond Imo state and ensured he meets the target of sending one million indigent Nigerians to university by 2050.

He urged unlucky applicants to wait for another opportunity in subsequent batches of the yearly scheme. The scheme, he said, was meant to encourage youths, irrespective of their political orientation or religious background, to actualise their dreams of acquiring higher education.