* Devastated over deputy’s death, appeals to co-govs for aid

By Simon Ebegbulem

MAIDUGURI—Borno State governor, Kasheem Shettima, yesterday lamented the tragedies that had befallen the state, saying over 500,000 persons had died in the state as a result of Boko Haram insurgency in the past five years.

The governor, who cried that he did not know why insurgency and untimely deaths were ravaging his state, lamented further that apart from Edo, Nasarawa and Osun states, other governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who pledged assistance to the state, had failed to redeem their pledges.

Governor Shettima disclosed this yesterday at Government House, Maidugiri, when Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Ayuba Waba, paid him a condolence visit over the death of his deputy, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha.

Oshiomhole, who expressed shock over the death of the late deputy governor, said he decided to visit Maidugiri to pay condolence personally to the governor and family of the deceased because he didn’t want to call the governor on the phone, considering the close relationship between him (Shettima) and his late deputy.

He said: “The governor is very close to his deputy, we are aware that some governors and their deputies do have their tension, some have their differences if they greet at all. But I know that my brother virtually on every activity he delegates his deputy to stand for him and in such meetings, you can see his intelligence, his humility and loyalty to his boss and to his people. His voice on issues of security of this state is very clear.

“I readily appreciate how much the governor will miss somebody he has worked with closely. May God be the husband and father of the family of the deceased. Our heart goes to you in our prayers. May this sort of pain never happen again.’’

Responding, Governor Shettima, who described Oshiomhole as a detribalized Nigerian, said: “Sometimes, we ask why these pains are happening to us, we recently lost a senator, the senator representing Borno, barely two months ago, now we have lost the deputy governor.

“Over 500,000 persons have lost their lives in the past five years due to Boko Haram insurgency. Sometimes, we ask why are we suffering all these. But there is nothing anybody can do than to look up to God.

“Governor Oshiomhole was here in Maidugiri on the foundation-laying ceremony of APC, it was there that we resolved the issue of the flag of APC and he played a very prominent role in making that decision. Most of our people have high regards for him. He is a detribalized Nigerian.

”His mother is still alive and a practising Muslim. He is a beacon of hope for a brighter tomorrow.

“In the politics of the last dispensation, despite the fact that his area is in the South South, we won in Edo State due to the doggedness of Oshiomhole. In Borno, in Sokoto, in Katsina, in Bauchi and many states in the North, we all attached ourselves to Buhari and that was why we survived.

“So we appreciate your concern Mr Governor and God will bless you and the people of Edo State for this love shown to us.”