Nasarawa Counters Lai Mohammed, Says Boko Haram Regrouping in the State

Repatriates foreign Fulani herdsmen

By Igbawase Ukumba

The Nasarawa State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Comrade Dogo Shammah, yesterday countered a statement credited to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, claiming that Governor Abdullahi Sule was misquoted in some sections of the media that Boko Haram were regrouping in the state.

The state government has also disclosed that it had repatriated some foreign Fulani herdsmen alleged to have entered into the communities of Wamba Local Government Area of the state from Katsina and Zamfara states, respectively

The Nasarawa State governor had last Friday while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja said the dislodged Boko Haram insurgents were regrouping in his state, particularly on the Benue/Nasarawa border.

However, Mohammed was quoted as saying that Governor Sule refuted the report while speaking with him over the issue.

Mohammed, who was briefing the media last Monday in Abuja on the progress made by the federal government in the war against terrorism and banditry, said the governor claimed he was quoted out of context.

“I was also concerned over this and I called the governor and asked him. But he said it was a case of being quoted out of context,” Mohammed said.

But the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Dogo Shammah, when interacting with journalists in Lafia yesterday affirmed that the governor was quoted verbatim.

Shammah said: “The governor was quoted verbatim that this is what is happening in Nasarawa State. “Please, I am appealing for support from the federal might, and we stand by it.”

“That was exactly what he said. But if for any reason the minister has anything contrary, we don’t know. “But as a government that was the position we took so that we can safeguard our lives and property. If there is a different meaning to it, we don’t know.”

The commissioner recalled that that was what took the governor to the presidency soliciting for assistance to get rid of the insecurity facing the state in recent times.

“We are afraid because we have boundaries with a large landmass surrounded by forests where the incidents of banditry are on the increase in our state on a daily basis,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the information commissioner also disclosed that the state government has repatriated some foreign Fulani herdsmen alleged to have entered into the communities of Wamba Local Government Area of the state from katsina and Zamfara States, respectively.

He narrated that the herdsmen arrived the area at midnight.

According to him, investigation revealed that they were Fulanis from Zamfara and Katsina states, respectively.

He however said Governor Sule had provided logistics and security where the foreign Fulani herdsmen and their cows were forcefully loaded on trucks and taken back to where they came from.

The commissioner however urged people of the state to be vigilant and report any suspicious movement of strange people to authorities concerned to maintain peace and order being enjoyed in the state.