Boko Haram: Jonathan To Suspend Borno Gov, Shettima

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is to remove the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, from office this Wednesday, Daily Trust reports. The move is to install a Military Administrator in the state to end the incessant attacks by members of the Boko Haram group.

In recent time, there have been consistent invasion of villages in Borno by the insurgents and have killed many people in the process. The latest move, according to the paper, is to send a strong warning signal to the terrorists that the Federal Government would no longer tolerate their deadly activities in the state.

Below is the story as reported by Daily Trust;

Governor Kashim Shettima is to be suspended from office early this week and replaced by a Military Administrator as part of plans by the Federal Government to launch a decisive military offensive against Boko Haram insurgents, Sunday Trust learnt from authoritative sources in Abuja at the weekend.

Members of the Borno State House of Assembly are also to proceed on suspension to enable the Military Administrator to exercise full executive and legislative powers. President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to announce the sudden move on Wednesday when he swears in 11 new ministers, including Lt General Aliyu Mohamed Gusau, who is expected to take over as Defence Minister.

Sources told Sunday Trust that the Presidency has already identified a retired Army General that it intends to appoint as the Military Administrator of Borno State. According to the sources, the Presidency believes that placing a soldier in charge of the state government will send a signal to the recalcitrant insurgents and also give impetus to the highly stepped up military effort that it is planning in the wake of deadly attacks on several Borno communities by the insurgents in recent weeks.

It was not immediately clear if the presidency’s planned move is meant to punish Governor Kashim Shettima, who had a sharp exchange with it last week over handling of the war against Boko Haram. Emerging from a private meeting with the president, Shettima told reporters that the insurgents were often better armed and better motivated than the army in the ongoing war.

Jonathan’s senior special assistant for public affairs, Doyin Okupe, replied the next day, saying Shettima’s claim was not true, that the governor is too inexperienced to know about weapons and that the military is winning the war against Boko Haram. Shettima, however, visited the State House again last Thursday and had another private meeting with Jonathan, where observers thought they had resolved their differences.

Sources said Jonathan invited Shettima to the meeting after last Wednesday’s renewed Boko Haram attack on Bama town.