Governor Kashim Shettima is, probably, Nigeria’s most troubled state Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the moment. Before he was voted into power in the 2011 governorship election, the insurgency in Borno State had begun to fester. In spite of all peace moves and military action, the crisis has not been brought to an end.
In this exclusive interview conducted last Wednesday, Governor spoke on the abduction of over 200 school girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok some two weeks ago, the state of emergency, the Boko Haram crisis generally, among many other contemporary issues
That incident is one nightmare that troubles me very much - as a father and leader. It remains the worst in my entire life. As a father I can imagine what a parent feels when a daughter is in the hands of abductors who are very capable of forceful marriage, rape, slavery and who are against education. As I said at a courtesy call earlier today, we are at a brokenhearted time in our dear Borno State because as we speak, over 200 precious daughters of Borno, 200 young enterprising school girls working towards a bright future, are being detained somewhere by our fellow men who claim to be devoted Muslims, whereas Allah who created all of us, has mandated us to protect women, to support them, to serve them with special attention and to even spare them during Islamic holy wars that the Boko Haram claim to be fighting.
