Umeh's linking of Shettima with Boko Haram is Nonesense! says SSG

Borno State Government has described claims by the National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chief Victor Umeh that it has set up Boko Haram in order to wage war against Nigeria as “extremely irresponsible and absurd.”
Secretary to the Borno State Government Ambassador Baba Ahmad Jidda said this yesterday in Abuja while reacting to a statement by the APGA chairman, which was reported by some newspapers last Friday.
In his statement, Jidda said: “We would have ignored this unfortunate and uninformed outburst by Mr. Victor Umeh if not for the malicious and unwarranted allegations which could mislead gullible members of the public about the true state of affairs with respect to the issues he raised...
“Mr. Umeh’s false and malicious accusation that Borno State Government created this sect ‘in order to wage war against Nigeria’ is extremely irresponsible. There is no shred of evidence to support this absurdity. Rather than ‘wage war against Nigeria,’ the Borno State Government under Governor Kashim Shettima has done everything in its power to restore peace and stability to the state. Let me state here that it was Governor Shettima who, very early in his tenure, offered to dialogue with the sect in order to address its grievances. It should be remembered that most of their grievances arose from events that happened in 2009, two years before he came to office.
“Umeh’s main assertion was that the suspected Madallah bombing mastermind Kabiru Umar, alias Kabiru Sokoto, was captured by security agents inside the Borno State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. I have already explained the circumstances in which this sordid episode happened in a statement I issued last Monday, which was widely reported in the newspapers of last Tuesday, January 17, 2012. Let me repeat for the benefit of Mr. Umeh and others who may have missed our explanation that the said Kabiru Umar managed to sneak into the Borno State Governor’s Lodge with the help of one Ibrahim Abba Umar, who secured permission from the Permanent Secretary of the Borno Liaison office in Abuja to spend a night there.
“Incidentally, the payment of N100 million to the family of the late Baba Fugu was part and parcel of these efforts to end the sect’s insurgency and restore peace to the state. It should be recalled that the family of Baba Fugu sued Borno State Government and won a court order for the payment of the money as damages to them. Rather than continue with a protracted court case, Borno State Government paid the money in obedience to the court order.
“It can therefore be seen that Mr. Victor Umeh’s call for the ‘arrest and prosecution’ of His Excellency Governor Kashim Shettima in respect of the capture of Kabiru Umar is meaningless, illogical and lacking any foundation whatsoever.”