By Danlami Nmodu
Borno State Commissioner for Information, Mr Inuwa Bwas has debunked claims that the poor state of Maiduguri airport was responsible for President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure so far to visit the state. “If he said it was the airport, I want to say it was not the airport.It may be something else,because the airport in Maiduguri is all right”,Bwala said in an exclusive interview with Newsdiaryonline.com in Abuja.
In his last Presidential media chat, Jonathan said the poor state of Maiduguri airport was responsible for his failure to visit Borno state.Borno and Yobe states have been the worst hit by Boko Haram insurgency and reports said the citizens there have been wondering why the president has not deemed it fit to visit them yet.
Several month’s after the president’s claim, Borno state Commissioner for Information Mr Inuwa Bwala has debunked the notion that Maiduguri airport was not in good shape for him to land there .
Bwala started by expressing the people’s worry over failure of Jonathan and other to visit his state:”Of course we are worried, we are the ones that have been speaking out that our president couldn’t visit us even in the face of these challenges.Every Nigerian is interested in painting Borno State as a war zone.But our president, neither the vice president nor the senate president nor any leader of substance has deemed it fit to visit us.”
The information commissioner added:”The airport in Maiduguri is today one of the best airports.The runway was just renovated about six (or) seven months ago.So I don’t know which airport they are talking about because it is the same airport we are landing on.It is the same airport Hajj operation is taking place there, international flights .So I don’t think it is enough reason to say the airport stopped him(Jonathan ) from going. Maybe they have not found time, their schedules have been too tight. But if they have visited other places, I don’t think anything stops him from visiting Borno state, honestly, so that we can be seen to be part of the country, part of the citizens that he is governing; so that it can restore our confidence in the federal government ….so that we can see the federal government as having shown concern for the plight (of)our people …”
“So if he said it was the airport, I want to say it was not the airport.It may be something else,because the airport in Maiduguri is all right”, Inuwa thundered.
Bwala also said dialogue remained the best way to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency in the North.He expressed hope that the insurgency may soon be over.
Watch out for the details of the interview on Newsdiaryonline.com
