The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has declared that it is wrong for anyone to claim that the Boko Haram insurgents wagging war against Nigeria are from the Northern Region of the country.

In a statement issued by a member of the forum, Solomon Dalung, shortly after its meeting in Bauchi on Saturday, the group noted that though there was a conception of an Islamic orientation by those who initially formed the Boko Haram group, what was being witnessed now was far from the agenda of the group.

He stated that any attempt to link northerners to insurgency was a deliberate move to blackmail the people of the region, stating that the Federal Government lacked the will to put an end to insurgency in the country.

According to the forum, the northerners were victims of insurgency being perpetrated against them, saying that as it is today, the original Boko Haram had been hijacked by the political class who are the ones now annexing the territory of Nigeria.

Part of the statement read: “The insurgents are not from Northern Nigeria. Northern Nigerians are victims of a conspiracy. Those who bombed Nigeria on the 1st of October, 2012 are not Northerners. The man who masterminded the bombing of five churches in Kaduna has a name John Odey. John Odey is not a northerner.

“The three gentlemen who coordinated the bombing of Nyanya are not northerners. The 400 people arrested in Maiduguri fighting are from the South-South. I disagree with anybody trying to insinuate that the insurgents are mostly from the North.

“Yes, there was a conception for an Islamic orientation spearheaded by Yusuf Muhammed but as it is today, all those who started Boko Haram had been hijacked by the political class and they are the ones that are now annexing the territories of Nigeria.”

•Credit: Channels TV. Photo shows Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

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