Boko Haram: Northern Govs Summon Meeting

The Northern Governors’ Forum is to convene an emergency meeting to proffer lasting solutions to the security challenges facing the country.

This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Minna by Gov. Babangida Aliyu’s Chief Press Secretary, Malam Danladi Ndayebo.

The statement quoted the governor as saying that northern governors had agreed to move in “to halt the senseless tit-for-tat killings in Jos, the Plateau capital.”

It noted that Aliyu, who returned to the country on Tuesday morning after performing the lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia, said he was alarmed at the fresh fighting in the erstwhile peaceful state, declaring that the bloodbath must stop.

“I am horrified at the new wave of senseless killings in and around Jos, the Plateau State capital, beginning from the clash between Muslims and Christians at the Rukuba area of Jos, which left 17 persons dead and several others injured.

“Since then, targeted killings have spread to villages around the state capital, taking terrible toll on the people of Plateau State.

“This development is condemnable, reprehensible and therefore, unacceptable,” he stated.

Although the governor did not give the specific date when the governors’ meeting would hold, he said “the crisis in Plateau State is an emergency and should be treated as such”.

He said that he was already consulting with his colleagues with a view to convening the meeting in the next two weeks.

He added that the meeting had become imperative, to break the cycle of violence and to proffer lasting solutions to the sectarian crises rocking the state.