Fight B’Haram, expose their sponsors, Aliyu tells FG

Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu

The Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, has urged the Federal Government to deploy all its weapons to fight the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic sect. He also called on government to expose the sponsors of the sect.

He said this while receiving the 2013 Christian Pilgrimage report at the Government House in Minna on Monday.

He said, “In our belief in God, we do not change any aspect of the Qu’ran for whatever reason. So, anybody who starts fighting in the name of religion is doing so on his own. Jihad simply means to help people with welfare not killing one another. That is why we are very happy with the Federal Government in receiving the assistance that is coming all over.

“But, we must say that the political will must be brought to bear in fighting Boko Haram. We must fight them to finish. And I hope in the process of fighting them we will be able to know those who originated, sponsor, collaborate and those who assist the Boko Haram.

“And by extension, it behoves us to fight extremism in any form; whether in religion or in politics because in our culture there is no place for extremism. All our religions teach us moderation in whatever we do.

“We must come together because we have come to a situation where we cannot sit on the fence or just keep quiet. When you see things that are not going right, you can change them, if you can and if you cannot then report to the appropriate authority to do that.”

The governor appreciated the fact that the Federal Government was already receiving assistance from the international community on the fight against insurgents in the country. But he declared that what “we need to win the war is the political will.”

Aliyu added that Nigerians, notwithstanding their political bias, must rise in support of the Federal Government so that the dreaded sect members would be brought to their knees.

“After this I believe our society will become more rationalised and we will begin to respect one another and we must not allow those who are jealous of us to take over the society.

“We have seen what could happen. If you don’t have a daughter, you have a sister, if you don’t have a sister, you will at least have a relation or better still a lover. Imagine if that your beloved one is taken or kidnapped. Imagine what is happening to those children in the bush. We must hate it, we must condemn it and we must urge the Federal Government to make sure that these things are completed and that in the next three months the issue of Boko Haram would have been a thing of the past,” he said.

He added that Nigerians should condemn the abduction of the girls from the Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, insisting that the activities of the Boko haram should ‘be terminated within 3 months’.

Aliyu applauded the peaceful conduct of the state pilgrims to the Holy land and pledged that he would continue to sponsor adherents of the two major religions to Jerusalem and Mecca because it would assist to strengthen their faith.