Start With B’Haram, Borno Elders Urge Gen. Buhari ...

The Borno Elders Forum has appealed to the President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to ensure that the issue of the Boko Haram insurgency is given top priority immediately he assumes office on May 29, 2015.

This was contained in a statement signed by the chairman of the forum, Ambassador Usman Galtimari, on Thursday.

The statement partly read, “Over the past few years, Nigerians have been terribly afflicted by insurgency and high level terrorism. For us in Borno State and indeed the North East, it is not an exaggeration to say that we have been taken back several years in terms of all indices of human development.



“However, we believe it was our destiny. We therefore urge Mr. President-elect to promptly eradicate all forms of insurgency and violence across the country. This should be the starting point. Nothing works without peace.

“We recently had cause to plead with the nation to come up with a Marshall Plan for the North East, starting first by setting up a high level Presidential Assessment Committee to take stock of the level of devastation. We need to be quickly rescued, rehabilitated, reconstructed, resettled and re-established.”

The Forum also noted that the wild jubilation that followed Buhari’s electoral victory across the nation showed the President-elect’s popularity.

“We see this as a victory for democracy, peace and harmony throughout the country and beyond. It is a victory for the Black race and the masses in general.

“Mr. President-elect has a great task of taking away from the streets the millions of our unemployed youths. Jobs need to be created on daily basis and young people should be encouraged to partake in them.