Babagana Zulum, the Borno state governor on Tuesday stated that the state has received more help and humanitarian support from western countries than the Arab countries in its fight against Boko Haram.
This statement was made by the state governor when he received the Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Saleh Fheied Saleh in his office on Tuesday evening January 5.
In his words;
“In the midst of challenges with the Boko Haram insurgency, countries from the west have shown more concern for the plight of Borno people than rich Arab nations whose people share similarity of religion and culture with the majority of Borno citizens,” he said.
I am a practical person. I work with the realities I see on ground. In the face of our challenges over the years, we have received humanitarian support from the UK and other parts of Europe, the United States, Canada, from Japan and a host of others who have demonstrated concern and have made efforts to support our traumatized citizens in many ways especially on food, medicals and livelihoods.
However, that level of concern never came from Arab countries with whom millions of Borno people share similarity in religion and culture. We even have indigenous shuwa Arabs in Borno and this shows how our histories are tied.
We have made severe efforts, written and visited embassies of Arab countries, especially those that are rich and not dealing with crises, but obviously, majority of the Arabs do not care about our situation, neither do they support us.
The Arabs have not shown concern to us. Your visit, however, has renewed our hope especially and we are very grateful for your visit”