By WOLE MOSADOMI, Minna
Notorious leader of the radical Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko-haram, Abubakar Shekau started his ‘ministry’ in an expansive land located within a remote village in Niger state a few years ago before they were dislodged by the state government.
Abubakar Shekau, the acclaimed spokesman of a factional group of the sect led by, Abubakar Kaka who is believed to have been killed by men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri were dislodged from the then, Daru-Islam by security operatives in the year, 2009.
Niger state Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu who made this known in Minna when he met with traders at the government house also confirmed that the pictures of both Shekau and Abu Kaka posted regularly on the sects websites and published in newspapers are the same with the ones the security agents captured before the duo were dislodged from Niger state.
*Gov Aliyu Babangida of Niger State
The Governor said but for the proactive nature adopted by the security agencies in dislodging the group from the state and the support given by state government, Niger state would been the headquarters of the dreaded sect.
Governor Aliyu said it is necessary for all Nigerians to rise up and oppose the activities of the fundamentalists which he said has had untold negative effects on the economy of not only the northern part of the country but Nigeria as a whole.
He said for any business to thrive it must be in a peaceful and secured environment, insisting that in view of the series of attacks on security men in Niger state capital government will tighten security within and outside Minna the state capital and therefore asked that they should cooperate with security operatives handling the exercise.
Defending the movement of the old Minna central market to its present location, Governor Aliyu said the market when it was established did not envisage the rapid growth the state capital had witnessed.
When the market was at its old location it contributed to congestion being experienced in the city centre, Aliyu said adding that the other market at PZ area of Minna will soon be moved to the Kure market to give more room for the development of the Minna city centre.
Aliyu told his guests that critics of the administration were those who wanted him to be sharing public money without embarking on any developmental programmes, insisting that the same people will in no distant future turn round to say he (Aliyu) spent 8 years without anything to show for it.
Governor Aliyu who solicited for the continued support of the administration in its developmental strides said, “My government will not share money, what is uppermost in my mind now is the development of the state”.
The traders through their spokesmen Alhaji Mohammed Umoru and Alhaji Dandere pledged their loyalty to Governor Aliyu and his administration but asked that the governor should reduce the series of levies they have to pay daily in the markets.
*Gov Aliyu Babangida of Niger State
