Chairman of the Borno Elders Forum, Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan lacks the political will to handle the Boko Haram insurgency that has almost crippled the entire North-east.
Speaking at the conference of elders and leaders of northern Nigeria in Kano, he said government has failed in its responsibility of protecting the people of the area.
“We have reached a point of no return and a point where we have to accept that the government has failed in its responsibility of protecting us, not because it is not capable, but because it lacks the political will to do so, ” he said.
Galtimari who spoke through Alhaji Zanna Hassan Boguma said it has become necessary for northerners to start thinking of a way out.
“Despite our trials and tribulations, not many of us thought that our problems transcended politics. The solution to our problems lies with neither the PDP nor the APC, but with you, elders of the area. We must realize that we cannot wait for others to rescue us at this critical period of our lives. It has now become very clear that they do not care for us anymore. We are being treated as foreigners in our land,” he said.
He said northerners must come together and collectively speak with one voice, alleging that there is a major conspiracy in the Boko Haram crisis and that there has to be checked. According to him, the federal government has neglected the North and the media has been negative to their plight and fuelled the crisis to a proportion where the international community seems to have turned its back.
“Until those who were named as supporters, financiers and allies of the Boko Haram are brought to justice, until political Boko Haram are apprehended and prosecuted, until the operation to contain this madness is sincerely handled, lives of our innocent villagers will continue to be sacrificed,” he warned, noting that the people of the North-east are facing humanitarian crisis as a result of the insurgency.