INSECURITY: Former Army Chief, Ihejirika, linked El-Rufai with Boko Haram

In what can best be described as a huge development in the fight against insecurity in the country, recent revelations by a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, claiming one of North's Governors is the sponsor of Boko Haram, may have found a huge base to support his claims, all thanks to a 2014 disclosure by former Chief of Army Staff to Goodluck Jonathan, General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika.

In a recent statement on ‘Morning Crossfire’ programme on Nigeria Info Abuja 95. 1 FM on Monday, Mailafia said repentant terrorists revealed to him that Boko Haram fighters have been distributed all over the country during COVID-19 lockdown.


He also said that the repentant terrorist revealed that a serving northern governor is a Boko Haram leader.

The former CBN deputy governor said he had a chat with two repentant terrorists who identified the northern governor.

He also revealed that the terrorists and bandits wrecking havoc in the country are one and the same.

Mailafia, who was the Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the last election, said the terrorists moved weapons even during the lockdown caused by the COVID - 19.



He said, “Some of us also have our intelligence networks. I have met with some of the bandits; we have met with some of their high commanders – one or two who have repented – they have sat down with us not once, not twice.

“They told us that one of the northern governors is the commander of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Boko Haram and the bandits are one and the same. They have a sophisticated network. During this lockdown their planes were moving up and down as if there was no lockdown.

“They were moving ammunition, moving money, and distributing them across different parts of the country.”




Mailafia said Boko Haram had already infiltrated southern Nigeria, adding that their plan was to spark a second civil war.

The former CBN deputy governor, who holds a PhD from Oxford University in the United Kingdom, said he was not one to make spurious and unfounded allegations.

He added, “They are already in the South, in the rain forests of the South. They are everywhere. They told us that when they finish these rural killings, they will move to phase two. Phase two is that they will go into urban cities, going from house to house killing prominent people.

“I can tell you this is the game plan.



“By 2022, they want to start a civil war in Nigeria. Don’t joke with what I am saying I have a PhD from Oxford University. I am a central banker, we don’t talk nonsense . I have this from the highest authority, some of the commanders of Boko Haram."

Adding credence to Mailafia's claim, General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika who spoke with Vanguard prior to Buhari's emergence as President in 2015, spoke on allegations linking him with the terror group, saying instead, that Nasir El-Rufai, who is now Kaduna State Governor, is the actual sponsor of the terror group.

He said, “The (Commanders) including El-Rufai know where the problem is. He should stop deceiving Nigerians by trying to divert attention”.


According to Ihejirika, “When the Boko Haram operation started, supporters of the sect like El-Rufai said that there was nothing like Boko Haram and that the army was just kiIIing innocent youths”.

“If you also remember, not too long ago, some of their supporters including El-Rufai said that I was re-inventing the killing of the Ibos during the Biafra war following government’s determination to rid the country of terrorism.

Ihejirika who was obviously angry while speaking on phone, also said, “The likes of El-Rufai started the campaign of human right abuses, in order to divert the international attention of the heinous crime being committed by the Boko Haram terrorists”.



“The likes of El-Rufai have been supporting Boko Haram. In fact, El-Rufai and his likes are the same group of people that ensured the army did not to get the requested equipment to deal with this menace once and for all, as they used their cohorts to tell the government that procuring modern equipment were not necessary.

“It is the same group of El-Rufai that started the human right abuses campaign. It was done in order to block any international assistance after the state of emergency was declared and the sect was initially tamed. That gave Boko Haram time and respite to build up again.

Speaking further, General Ihejirika said that when the United States was to initially declare Boko Haram a terrorist organization, the same El-Rufai and his group mounted pressure on the international community, using alleged human right abuses as campaign strategy.


The former Army Chief revealed that this same group including El-Rufai have taken further steps in support of Boko Haram, “which I cannot disclose for now”.

Claims by Mailafia that Boko Haram has been secretly distributed across the country, is further supported by a recent video footage by the terror group claiming it now has its presence in the Middlebelt.

The footage showed about three fighters sending Eid greetings in Hausa, English and Fulfulde to viewers.

“It is we the Jamahatu Ali Sunna li Dawatul Jihad in the location of Niger State. We want to send our Sallah salutation, first of all to our imam, Abu Muhammad Ibn Abubakar Shekau,” one of the terrorists dressed in a Nigerian police uniform said.



The sect had in June released a new video and confirmed its link with the armed groups operating in the North-West and North-Central part of the country.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in its reaction to killings in Southern Kaduna, wondered how bandits and other terror groups in the country all of a sudden, become more powerful than a whole government of a country with the Army and other security body under its command.

CAN through its President, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, said, "Only a fool or somebody who is a party to this evil would not know that there is something fishing."


Describing the attacks as ‘highly suspicious and alarming’, Ayokunle said the ongoing crisis in Southern Kaduna shows Nigeria is at war with internal enemies of the state. He said more worrisome is the fact that both governments seem powerless against the attackers, something he said is questionable.

He questioned, “Should the gunmen and terrorists be more powerful than a legitimate government? Why couldn’t the Kaduna State Government with Federal authorities go into the bush where these herdsmen are and apprehend them? Why couldn’t they mop up the ammunition with which they are doing havoc?"