A former vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has alleged Boko Haram, violent herders, and bandits an operating on a coordinated mission, and their promoters go beyond Nigeria and Africa.
Prof. Daniel Saror made the allegation on Sunday at a thanksgiving service in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, organized to mark his 80th birthday anniversary.
“The insecurity we are experiencing in Benue and Nigeria today is not an accident. It is a planned programme. Boko Haram does not consist of miscreants. They are intelligent people; they are highly connected in Nigeria and other countries in the world.
“Their mission is simple: they want to conquer and Islamise the nation. The Jihadists that you hear about in the North West are also not miscreants. They are highly connected, highly motivated, and highly experienced in their own ideas and what they want. They want to spread the caliphate throughout Nigeria”.
Speaking about the reach and contacts of the armed Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram insurgents, Saror said the backers’ network extends to the Middle East, Asia, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia among others, stressing that they are funded in billions of naira to execute the conquest agenda of the caliphate in the country.
The federal government is prosecuting number of Boko Hram finaciers mopped up during a sting operation in 2020, and the UAE authorities recently released the list of terrorist sponsors within the emirates.