President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that Boko Haram cannot come up to Maiduguri or environs without the local leadership knowing because traditionally the local leadership is in charge of security in their own respective areas.
Buhari made this known before leaving Borno state on Wednesday. The president had headed to the state from Ethiopia where he attended the African Union summit.
The Herald gathered that Buhari, however, didn’t visit Auno, a nearby community where suspected Boko Haram insurgents killed at least 30 people on Sunday.
From the air force base, the president moved to the palace of Abubakar Elkanemi, the shehu of Borno and from there to the presidential lodge of the government house, Maiduguri, for a brief refreshment after which he departed the state.
At the shehu’s palace, the president told the monarch that he was in Borno on transit to Abuja, to share the pains of the people following the incident in Auno and other attacks in the state.
Buhari said: “As commander in chief, I campaigned both in 2015 and last year on three fundamental issues which include security; you cannot preside over an institution or a country if it is not secure. This is just common sense, everybody knows this even those that have not gone to school know this.
“This Boko Haram or whatever they are, cannot come up to Maiduguri or environs without the local leadership knowing because traditionally the local leadership is in charge of security in their own respective areas. So with my understanding of our culture, I wonder how Boko Haram survives up till now.
“We are working for you in this country. As commander in chief, I am dealing with the security institutions and I believe there is an improvement in security.
“I urged the people of the state to cooperate with with the law enforcement agencies and let us deny Boko Haram access to our loyal citizens and encourage displace people to go back to the land.”
“If they don’t cooperate with the government, they are endangering their future. I am already 77, how many years do I expect under normal circumstances?.”