In spite of being upbraided by the federal government, fellow governors and several others, Governor Murtala Nyako has insisted the Federal Government is behind the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Adamawa state governor had ruffled the nest last weekend when he wrote what many have considered extreme and done in bad faith not only to cast aspersion on the federal government but to incite Northerners against the government and Southerners.

However, the former Chief of Naval Staff and subsequently Chief of Defence Staff, was adamant that whatever claims he had made in the memo are actual statements and challenged the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to come up with facts to the contrary.

The governor, who spoke on the Hausa Service of the BBC monitored in Jos, said the memo written to his colleagues and in which he explained in details his view was prompted by the spate of killings in the North and the systematic destruction of the region.

He drew inferences to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter sometime last year in which the former military ruler asserted that the federal government was deliberately plotting dangerously against perceived opponents and that some persons were marked for elimination.

According to him, “Northerners are being killed every day. Those whom I have said are responsible of these evil acts cannot prove me wrong and if they think it is not true, let them come out publicly and prove beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt.

“Already, Obasanjo had said that the North would suffer from killing and destruction and that has come to reality. What is happening now is a clear evidence of Obasanjo’s letter that something of such nature would happen and we are seeing it now.

“One of the strategies employed by the sponsors has been that people would always be brought in helicopter to kill both Northern Muslims and their Christian counterparts. So, they kill everyone in the region irrespective of religious affiliation.”

Nyako claimed that the federal government has done nothing concrete to confront the insurgency.

It would be recalled that Nyako’s memo had provoked angry reactions from key officers of the federal government and was the basis for Thursday’s expanded National Security Council meeting which later followed by the Northern Governors meeting with the Sultan in attendance with other senior clerics.

Sources yesterday spoke of the confrontation between President Jonathan and Governor Nyako during the meeting. There are two versions of what took place at the meeting.

One of the sources said: “When President Goodluck Jonathan raised the matter on the agenda, Nyako said he holds the President in high esteem and would not do anything to undermine his office.

“The governor also said ‘Mr. President, you are a good man, but you have some people around you that are bad.’

“The President was not carried away by Nyako’s sentiments and he asked the governor to address the issues in the letter. He asked Nyako to read the letter to the council.

“Nyako owned up to the contents of the letter and read it without any remorse. Like a school boy, he stood up to read the letter.

“After the reading session, the President asked Nyako: What do you have to say? While still on his feet, Governors Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and Martin Elechi (Ebonyi) descended him.”

An unperturbed Nyako refused to apologise even though most of the governors disapproved of his letter.

The northern governors were shocked that Nyako did not back up his claim with any intelligence fact.

Another source said: “It was true that Nyako initially went cyclical praising the President who was unmoved by his U-turn.

“At a point, the President attempted to read the letter and when he was trying to shuffle through it.

“In a brave manner, the Adamawa State Governor sought the indulgence of the President to read the letter to the hearing of the council members.

“But Nyako could actually not defend the contents of the letter. Or, maybe as a former Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, he knew too much and he did not want to divulge it at the session.

“His reluctance led to some scathing remarks from some governors who took exception to certain information in the letter.

“At the end, Nyako had no regrets. He even created a mild sensation when he refused to sit besides a South-East governor. This was what happened. We were not happy, but I think we have successfully thrashed the issue.”

•Pieced together from reports in Peoples Daily and The Nation. Photo shows Governor Nyako.

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