So who is the Governor that is the Boko Haram Commander? Nigerians, northern Governors ask

Dr. Obadiah Mailafia may have stepped out of his meeting with the Department of State Services (DSS) a free man, but the forest fire he started when he declared that a northern Governor is a Boko Haram commander, is still raging as several forces seek to keep it burning for various reasons and interests continue to fan the fire.
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His position, notwithstanding, Nigerians on social media, are pointing in different directions and exhuming social media posts from the past.
One of such posts is the one by Kaduna Governor, Nasir el Rufai, who, six years ago named former Army chief, General Azubuike Ihejirika; and a former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, a man many others point to, because the group started when he was Governor, as sponsors of the terrorist group.
But many also exhumed a comment made by Ihejirika on the same date where he described el Rufai as an executive commander of Boko Haram.
Speaking to Vanguard,  Lt-General Ihejirika said el rufai comments were a “diversion” to take attention from his own involvement.
“The (commanders), including El-Rufai, know where the problem is,” Ihejirika told Vanguard. “He should stop deceiving Nigerians by trying to divert attention”.

“The likes of El-Rufai have been supporting Boko Haram. In fact, El-Rufai and his likes are the same group of people that ensured the army did not to get the requested equipment to deal with this menace once and for all, as they used their cohorts to tell the government that procuring modern equipment were not necessary.”
“When the Boko Haram operation started, supporters of the sect like El-Rufai said that there was nothing like Boko Haram and that the army was just killing innocent youths.
“El-Rufai said that I was re-inventing the killing of the Ibos during the Biafra war following government’s determination to rid the country of terrorism.”
Iherjirika also says that he was the first person to declare that the country was dealing with a war situation, but El-Rufai and others allegedly denied the gravity of the situation, disagreeing with his judgment. This move, the General says, gave Boko Haram time to regroup and redevelop.
“It is the same group of El-Rufai that started the human right abuses campaign. It was done in order to block any international assistance after the state of emergency was declared and the sect was initially tamed. That gave Boko Haram time and respite to build up again”.
Ihejirika also told Vanguard that El-Rufai and others are further involved with Boko Haram and its operations, but that he could not yet disclose that information.
Earlier in a statement he posted to his Facebook and Twitter pages, the Governor, then a private citizen and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, cited Australian hostage and crisis negotiator Stephen Davis, who alleged the above duo were key elements of the insurgency.

The full statement, taken from El-Rufai’s Facebook page then reads in full:
“BREAKING NEWS: SHERIFF AND IHEJIRIKA JUST NAMED AS BOKO HARAM KINGPINS – AriseTV – August 28, 2014
“Australian hostage negotiator Stephen Davis has just named Former Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and immediate chief of army staff Lt-Gen Ihejirika (removed in January 2014) as the Boko Haram brains on ARISE NEWS.
“Davis said Boko Haram commanders that he has been negotiating with as the source of this information. The kingpins not only finance BH operations but select targets for assassination and execution.
“Finally, the truth about BH is coming out. Hopefully, the murderers of General Muhammadu Shuwa, the abductors of the Chibok girls, those truly responsible for the Nyanya bombings, and attempted assassination of General Buhari and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi will be known.
“We hope the authorities will take the steps necessary to act on this revelation, and thereby discharge their duty to protect us, the citizens of Nigeria. That is just what it is, a hope!”
Also, as the controversy rages, some commentators are trying to use comments el Rufai made almost two years later to want to rope in the governor.
According to the Vanguard newspaper in September 2016, he told journalists of efforts he had made to assuage angry Fulani herdsmen from across Africa who were bent on unleashing violence in his state.
His words: “For southern Kaduna, we didn’t understand what was going on and we decided to set up a committee under Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) to find out what was going on there. What was established was that the root of the problem has a history starting from the 2011 post election violence.
“Fulani herdsmen from across Africa bring their cattle down towards Middle Belt  and Southern Nigeria. The moment the rains starts around March, April, they start moving them up to go back to their various communities and countries.
“Unfortunately, it was when they were moving up with their cattle across Southern Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them.
“Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle.
“So many of these people were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to revenge.
“So a lot of what was happening in Southern Kaduna was actually from outside Nigeria. We got a hint that the late Governor Patrick Yakowa got this information and he sent someone to go round some of these Fulani communities, but of course after he died, the whole thing stopped. That is what we inherited. But the Agwai committee established that.
“We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging them to stop killing.
“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, and we paid some. As recently as two weeks ago, the team went to Niger republic to attend one Fulani gathering that they hold every year with a message from me.”
Meanwhile, the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) has also expressed interest in knowing who Mailafia referred to as a Boko Haram commander.

The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Plateau State, Hon. Simon Lalong, in a statement in Jos, said, “The forum, which has been working with the federal government, security agencies, community, civil society, traditional and religious leaders as well as development partners to defeat terrorism, banditry and other forms of criminality in the region finds the allegation by Dr. Mailafia very weighty, which deserves further investigation.
“We as Northern governors have met severally to discuss insecurity in the Northern region and the nation at large where we did not only condemn the activities of terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, bandits, armed robbers, kidnappers, and other criminals, but also engaged the president and all heads of security agencies in finding solutions to the problem. To now say that one of our members is leading Boko Haram in Nigeria is a serious allegation that cannot be swept under the carpet. We demand an immediate and thorough investigation.”
The forum urged Mailafia and all citizens with useful information on the activities of criminals and terrorist groups to assist security agencies and governments at all levels with such intelligence for proper action, wondering if “such allegations are not smear campaigns or attempts to discourage the Northern governors who are putting in their best to bring an end to insecurity in the region.”