Shettima is the man! Bornu State Governor Kashim Shettima fingered as main Boko Haram Sponsor. "He hired us to kill Ngala and Gubio" - Boko Haram detainee

Shettima is the man! Bornu State Governor Kashim Shettima fingered as main
Boko Haram Sponsor. He hired us to kill Ngala and Gubio - Boko Haram detainee

The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has been fingered as a prominent sponsor of the Boko Haram.

Amidst the alleged role the governor played in the kidnap of the Chibok girls, the Power Steering magazine reported that Governor Shettima was behind the killing of late Alhaji Awana Ngala, former ANPP chairman in Borno State, who was tipped to succeed former governor Ali Modu Sheriff as well as Engr. Modu Fannami Gubio, the gubernatorial candidate of the ANPP, who was killed barely one week after he was appointed to succeed Modu Sheriff in the 2011 general election.

The magazine claimed to have gained the information from a secret conversation with a detained Boko Haram member, Mustapha Kolo who revealed that there is an existing relationship between the Boko Haram and the Borno State governor right from his time as a commissioner, where he served in five ministries before his election as Governor of Borno State.

Mustapha Kolo revealed that the governor had been giving them money to further their course and had been meeting with their leaders over targeted assassinations of prominent Borno citizens and politicians, who did not share his own political ideas.

Mustapha Kolo said, “When he (Shettima) was Commissioner, he used to give us plenty money. He even gave us money to kill Fannami Gubio, so he can become governor, but he did not complete his payment; we were following him, he didn’t give us again”.

This position is supported by Ahmad Salkida, the self-exiled Nigerian journalist, widely reported to have an unfettered access to Boko Haram, described as questionable, claims by Australian negotiator, Dr. Steven Davis, of having links with the insurgent group.

The Borno State-born journalist, who reportedly fled to the United Arab Emirates over allegations that he was a Boko Haram sympathiser, stated that Davis should explain to Nigerians how he “came across” a member of the insurgent group who told him about the former Borno Governor and the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika.