Northern govs vow to defeat Boko Haram, poverty

By Peter Duru

MAKURDI—Governors of the Northern states have vowed to join forces to defeat Boko Haram insurgentsThe governors also pledged to deepen the relationship among the people of different sections of the region to foster greater unity.

Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, spoke yesterday in Wannune, Tarka local Government Area of Benue State when he led two other governors of the forum to pay a condolence visit to Senator George Akume, who recently lost his elder brother and paramount ruler of Tarka, the late Chief Gabriel Indyer Akume.

Governor Shettima said: “The leaders of the north would not relent until peace is fully restored in the troubled spots of the north just like our joint resolve to overcome poverty in the north will continue to enjoy top priority.”

The governor, who pleaded for patience and understanding among the populace, said everything was being done by the governments of the northern region to ensure sustainable economic growth in the area.

He said their visit to commiserate with the people of Benue State and the Akume family in particular was a further demonstration of the oneness and unity of purpose of the people of the region.

In his response, Senator Akume said the visit brought comfort to him on account of the assurance that he had friends who could stand by him in his hour of grief and need.

The Northern Governors’ Forum chairman was accompanied on the visit by his Jigawa State counterpart, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and several federal lawmakers from the north. and the attendant poverty unleashed on that part of the country.