Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has described the claims linking the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) or Boko Haram to the recent church attack in Owo, Ondo State, as mere speculation.
Fayemi stressed that no evidence has confirmed that the terrorists were responsible for the attack, which claimed several lives and left many others injured.
Amid controversy over who was responsible for the sad incident, the Federal Government linked the killings to the ISWAP.
However, Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), believes the position of the Federal Government is only speculative.
“I’m not going to go into any speculation,” Fayemi said on Monday in response to a question regarding the position of the Federal Government during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“As far as I am concerned, the statement that ISWAP or Boko Haram or whatever other institutions are responsible for this (attack) is purely speculative at this stage. I have not seen any evidence that concretely puts this in the corner of any of these rogue elements that we have.
“And really, it does not – at this stage – matter, they have committed this crime, they have demonstrated the capacity to cause maximum damage to our people.”
“I don’t want us to jump the gun as far as this is concerned and that is why I am not going to go into any detail as to what intelligence we had and at what point we had it,” he added.
“Our duty as security officers is to ensure that this does not occur again and we go after elements of this nature, whichever organisation they may represent within our domains.”
DAILY POST reports that on June 5, terrorists attacked St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa Street, Owo, during church service.
Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has extended the mourning period in the State to Wednesday.
