Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Elkanemi, has urged the Chief of Army Staff, Farouq Yahaya, to pay more attention to certain locations that are still inaccessible in the state due to the activities of Boko Haram insurgents.
The traditional ruler made the call when he hosted Mr Yahaya, a major general, who paid a courtesy visit to his palace in Maiduguri.
The traditional ruler said though considerable progress has been made in fighting the insurgency in the state, especially from 2015 to date, “there are some locations that remain flashpoints for insurgency activities.”
He said no local government is fully under the control of the insurgents as was the case pre-2015 when at least 17 council areas of Borno were effectively under the insurgents.
“We have suffered so much in the hands of these criminals, compared to the relative peace that we enjoy now,” said the monarch.
“There was a time when we had no GSM network, no airport, no accessible roads, except the Maiduguri-Kano road, and many of our people were killed, including our district heads. Some of the district heads you see here in the palace are either replacing their fathers or grandfathers that were targeted and killed by the insurgents
“It was a sad moment for us all because everyone was a target – be you Muslim or Christian; they just killed people even though none of the holy books, neither the Holy Quran nor the Bible allows the killing of innocent people.”
He said though a lot has been achieved in the war against insurgence, many works still need to be done.
“As I said before 2015, a total of 17 local governments of Borno were under Boko Haram; but now they are all under the control of the Nigerian military.”
