Boko Haram can’t infiltrate South East –Governors

South-East governors have declared their zone impenetrable for members of the Boko Haram sect.

Four governors from the zone declared this at the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday shortly after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan.

The governors in attendance were Sullivan Chime (Enugu State), Theodore Orji (Abia), Martins Elechi (Ebonyi) and Willie Obiano (Anambra); while Rochas Okorocha of Imo State was absent.

Obiano, who addressed State House correspondents on behalf of his colleagues, said the Boko Haram sect could not get to the South-East.

The governor was responding to a question on whether SouthEast governors were concerned that the Boko Haram insurgency could spread to the south.

This was barely 24 hours after the police uncovered three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) reportedly planted in the Living Faith Church, (Winners Chapel), Owerri, Imo State, accommodating over 10,000 worshippers.

Obiano said though he could not provide any details on the bombs found in Owerri, he could only assure that Boko Haram could not get to the South-East.

He stressed that they (the governors) were not only very alert in the South-East, but were also watching what was going on.

“No, they (Boko Haram insurgents) can’t get there; I can assure you of that. We will not allow that to happen. I can’t tell you in any material details about the bombs found or not found. All I can assure you is that we are very alert in the South-East and we are watching what is going on. I can assure you that Boko Haram cannot come to the Southeast,” Obiano said.

It would also be recalled that Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima Tuesday warned that Boko Haram members had the capacity to extend their activities across the country if they succeeded in overrunning the North-East.

Shettima, while speaking at a two-day conference on security and human rights organised by the Centre for Historical Documentation and Research of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, had said: “If Boko Haram succeeds in overrunning the North-East as they seek, they’ll surely want to extend greater havoc to other parts of the north and if they overrun the north, they’d want to extend to the South”.

Speaking further yesterday, Obiano said he and his colleagues knew that Jonathan was under a lot of pressure as some people were making governance difficult for him.

He said they were at the Presidential Villa to assure the president that they were with him “all through the way” and that he should count on them.