By Emma Amaize

WARRI—FORMER National Chairman of Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, the Paramount Ruler of Siembiri Kingdom in Delta State, HRM Charles Ayemi-Botu, yesterday, said Northern leaders, who challenged  President Goodluck Jonathan,  weekend,  to fish out Boko Haram  members, who he (President) appropriately  described as “ghosts” and “faceless,” were agents of the insurgents.

Speaking to Vanguard in Warri, HRM Ayemi-Botu, said: “No sane Nigerian should be challenging Jonathan to fish them out,  except those people are their accomplices and working in tandem with Boko Haram to create unrest and tension in the land.

“When the youths of South-South, the likes of Tompolo, Ateke Tom and Boyloaf were fighting, was it the late President Umaru Yar’Adua or  former President Olusegun Obasanjo that fished them out?

“These people, if they are really fighting a just cause, why are they faceless? They are really ghosts. They said they do not want western education and yet, they are using English in all their e-mails and utterances, why not use their Arabic language to communicate with others. So, whoever is saying that President Jonathan should fish them out, is suggesting that they are sponsors of Boko Haram, financing them to heat up the polity simply because a Southerner is ruling.”

He said Boko Haram members were within and living with people in the North and if the leaders are sincere, they should prevail on them to stop the violence, just as Niger Delta leaders went to the creeks to ask militants,  some few years ago, to drop their arms and embrace peace.