Nigeria Presidency Slams Governor Over Genocide Claim

The Nigeria's presidency has rejected accusations by the governor of Adamawa state that the government was executing a genocidal agenda and was behind the mass killings and chaos in the country's northeastern region.



Doyin Okupe, a presidential spokesman on public affairs, said Governor Murtala Nyako's accusations were "disgraceful, parochial, and divisive."



He accused the governor of intentionally trying "to incite one section of the country against the other."



Nyako, the governor of Adamawa, one of the three states ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency, had accused the central government of committing genocide against the people of the north.



He claimed that the government was behind the mass murder and kidnappings in the area, suggesting that Boko Haram could well be "a phantom organization" used by government-funded militia to ruin the region.



"This is a very disgraceful remark by the governor and a pathetic embarrassment to the Nigerian military from where Nyako derives his career antecedents," said Okupe.



"It is certainly a reflection of the governor's ignorance and unpatriotic inclinations," he added.



The presidential spokesman said Governor Nyako's call for the withdrawal of security agencies from the region was "an open endorsement of the activities of the insurgents which is meant to provide them unrestricted opportunity to further unleash terror on innocent citizens."



Local media "ed Ahmad Gulak, another presidential spokesman, as calling the governor a "mad cow in a China shop."



Many observers argue that the presidency has sidestepped the issues raised in Nyako's explosive letter in which he had question how Boko Haram militants are able to openly move in convoys to commit mass murder and kidnap schoolchildren in states under an emergency rule.



He also wondered how the militants are able to move freely at night when an all-night curfew imposed by the military was in force.



Borno, Yobe and Adamawa are Nigeria's three northeastern states gripped by the bloody Boko Haram insurgency. Since May of last year, a state of emergency has remained in effect in all three states.



The emergency rule expires on April 19, with stakeholders from the region calling for an end to the military intervention.



The governors of the three states were among the opposition's governors who were absent at a top security meeting the president had called last Thursday.



More than 1000 people have been killed by the Boko Haram insurgency in recent weeks.



A hitherto peaceful organization that had preached against government corruption, Boko Haram suddenly turned violent in 2009 following the murder of its leader, Mohamed Yusuf, while in police custody.



In the years since, the group has been blamed for thousands of terrorist acts, including attacks on churches and security posts across Nigeria's northern region.



Although it claims to want an Islamist government in the region, Nigerian Muslims – most of whom reject Boko Haram as un-Islamic – have also been targeted by the militant group.



By Rafiu Ajakaye



englishnews@aa.com.tr - Lagos