The creation of Boko Haram started in 2000. I sent some messages and statements to some people and media organisations then. When Olusegun Obasanjo became the President of Nigeria in 1999, he appointed service chiefs – all from the North Central zone – Benue, Plateau, Kogi and Kwara states. Incidentally, all of them were Christians.
Rev. Kallamu Musa-DikwaA Borno State-based cleric and Director General, Centre for Justice on Religion and Ethnicity in Nigeria, Rev. Kallamu Musa-Dikwa, has alleged that three governors from the North started Boko Haram in Nigeria with the aim of fighting for Islam when Obasanjo became president in 1999.
Musa-Dikwa in an interview with PUNCH on Sunday, claimed that he had sent messages to personalities and media organisations in Nigeria, informing them of the evil plan going on in the region but nothing was done about it.
Backing his claim, Dikwa said he is in possession of 20 VCD video evidences recorded by the Islamic scholars where they said “if a northerner did not get to power, they were going to fight Christians in Nigeria”.
He said, “The creation of Boko Haram started in 2000. I sent some messages and statements to some people and media organisations then. When Olusegun Obasanjo became the President of Nigeria in 1999, he appointed service chiefs – all from the North Central zone – Benue, Plateau, Kogi and Kwara states. Incidentally, all of them were Christians.
“The development prompted three northern governors to come up with the idea of creating and raising Islamic militants to fight for Islam because they felt Obasanjo did not appoint their own (what they described as pure Hausa/Fulani northerners as service chiefs). From there, they created Islamic militants. Those governors contributed N100m each to buy working equipment, uniforms and so on for the militants. Immediately, Nigeria started experiencing religious crisis.
“After they contributed the money, those organised Islamic militants started religious crisis in Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, saying they wanted Sharia. The aim was to intimidate and oppress the Christians. They started at**cking churches and k*lling people. Any time elections took place and they did not favour them, they would burn churches and a*tack their members. They never went to offices of political parties or the Independent National Electoral Commission office to carry out their a*tacks.
“On February 18, 2006 in Maiduguri, those boys came out and said they wanted Sharia law and that a governor in the state then did not cooperate with them. And because of a cartoon that was designed in Denmark in 2006, they protested and burnt down 66 churches in the state and k*lled many Christian men, women and children. After that, they started moving from house to house, church to church, yet nobody talked – we were the only ones talking or raising the alarm about what was happening”.
He added that in July 2009, the insurgents “burnt down 27 churches and k*lled many Christians. At that time, they did not touch any Muslim man or woman. They only k*lled security agents and Christians.
“From 2009 till 2014, they were at**cking churches – going from house to house, sl**ghtering Christians. They started at**cking people, including Muslims in 2014 when they felt their leaders had deceived them by not backing them to fight ‘infidels’ in the North. Four of our reverends were sl**ghtered in 2009.”
When asked if he had evidence to back up his claims, Dikwa responded: “We have over 20 VCDs recorded by Islamic scholars and they said if a northerner did not get to power, they were going to fight Christians in Nigeria. A scholar once preached and incited Muslim youths not to be civil if the President of Nigeria was not a Muslim. We have the videos – he preached in Hausa. He alleged that all the former Muslim Heads of State that died, including Umaru Yar’Adua, were k*lled by the infidels and therefore, they would not allow a non-Muslim to lead Nigeria.”