Boko-haram, Abubakar Shekau started his 'ministry' in an expansive
land located within a remote village in Niger
state a few years ago before they were dislodged by the state government.
Abubakar Shekau, the acclaimed spokesman of a factional group of the
sect led by, Abubakar Kaka who is believed to have been killed by men
of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri were dislodged from the
then, Daru-Islam by security operatives in the year, 2009.
Niger state Governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu who made this known
in Minna when he met with traders at the government house also
confirmed that the pictures of both Shekau and Abu Kaka posted
regularly on the sects websites and published in newspapers are the
same with the ones the security agents captured before the duo were
dislodged from Niger state.
The Governor said but for the proactive nature adopted by the security
agencies in dislodging the group from the state and the support given
by state government, Niger state would been the headquarters of the
dreaded sect.
Governor Aliyu said it is necessary for all Nigerians to rise up and
oppose the activities of the fundamentalists which he said has had
untold negative effects on the economy of not
only the northern part of the country but Nigeria as a whole.
He said for any business to thrive it must be in a peaceful and
secured environment, insisting that in view of the series of attacks
on security men in Niger state capital government will tighten
security within and outside Minna the state capital and therefore
asked that they should cooperate with security operatives handling the
exercise.
Defending the movement of the old Minna central market to its present
location, Governor Aliyu said the market when it was established did
not envisage the rapid growth the state
capital had witnessed.
When the market was at its old location it contributed to congestion
being experienced in the city centre, Aliyu said adding that the other
market at PZ area of Minna will soon be moved to the Kure market to
give more room for the development of the Minna city centre.
Aliyu told his guests that critics of the administration were those
who wanted him to be sharing public money without embarking on any
developmental programmes, insisting that
the same people will in no distant future turn round to say he (Aliyu)
spent 8 years without anything to show for it.
Governor Aliyu who solicited for the continued support of the
administration in its developmental strides said, "My government. will
not share money, what is uppermost in my
mind now is the development of the state".
The traders through their spokesmen Alhaji Mohammed Umoru and Alhaji
Dandere pledged their loyalty to Governor Aliyu and his administration
but asked that the governor
should reduce the series of levies they have to pay daily in the markets.
SOURCE: Vanguard