TheCable

Kashim Shettima, Borno state governor, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s meeting with Jim Kim, president of the World Bank Group, was witnessed by three southern governors.

Shettima said it was at the meeting that the president asked the World Bank chief to focus on “the northern regions”.

Kim said on Thursday that Buhari asked him to focus the intervention efforts of the bank on the north.

The statement earned the president criticisms with Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti state governor,  accusing him of being sectional.

But the presidency said the request had nothing to do with sectionalism because the north-east had always been Buhari’s priority.

In a statement, Shettima, who is the chairman of the northern governors forum, said it was after the request was made that the World Bank organised a recovery and peace building assessment report on the six states affected by Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east.

He said he witnessed the meeting with Kim alongside four governors three of whom were from the southern part of the country.

He said the governors at the July 2015 meeting were Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), and Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa).

“The president and the federal government have very competent spokespersons, I don’t speak for the president or the government,” Shettima said.

“However, the controversy affects my state because the discussions with the World Bank focus on rebuilding the north-east and everyone knows that when the issue of rebuilding the north-east is the subject, Borno naturally comes into perspective.

“The whole thing is in the open and we believe the objectives of the president will be actualised as go forward.”