Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, has publicly repeated his plea to President Muhammadu Buhari to hire foreign mercenaries in the war against insurgency in the Northeast.
He said this has become even more urgent as the terrorist group, Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), has become more daring.
Addressing State House correspondents in Abuja, after meeting with Buhari on Thursday, the Governor said foreign assistance in Nigeria’s war against terrorists and insurgents had become a big option out of the quagmire.
He argued that if not checked now, the terrorist group, Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), is obviously better prepared to go beyond the Northeast, and take over the entire country.
Zulu said that the growing size of ISWAP in some parts of the Borno and Northeast is giving a great concern to many Nigerians, warning that allowing the terrorist group to grow would spell doom to the country.
He said that if nothing is done to tackle headlong the terrorist group that he described as a threat to the nation, what Boko Haram has done would be a child’s play compared to what ISWAP can do.
Zulum explained that ISWAP had an edge with its sophisticated arms and ammunition, better education and funding, and access to wider terror network in the Sahel.
He also called for a retooling of the military strategy and to ensure better accountability, transparency and responsibility in funding the terror war.
His words: “We shouldn’t allow ISWAP to grow. ISWAP are more sophisticated, more funded and they are more educated. And we shall do everything possible to defeat ISWAP. Otherwise, what Boko Haram did will be a child’s play.
“This is an early warning sign. Nigerian Army has to restrategise and defeat ISWAP. ISWAP will be a threat to the entire nation. Because of the proximity of the sub-Saharan Africa, they are coming from Libya and others resettling here.
“I have said it times without number that in addition to what we are doing, there is a need for government to rethink and look into the possibility of hiring mercenaries. There’s nothing wrong with that.
“America, Britain and many more countries that are stronger than Nigeria, used to seek support from outside; there’s nothing wrong because this problem has been compounded. And it’s not easy for us to solve the security challenges that we’re having now.
“While Nigeria is providing a lot of things, federal government is buying equipment, there is the need for us to seek support from external agencies to defeat this insurgents once and for all before the matter will reach other parts of the nation.
“This is very important, whether we like it or not, we have an existing gap that we need to fill, and this gap by now cannot be filled without external support. While we continue to build our own institutions, training and retraining.
“One very serious challenge that we have is our recruitment process, and that has to be looked into. You can just say for recruitment in the army, there is collecting of notes from Governors, Ministers and others and the people are queuing in.
“As long as we are not willing to sanitize our recruitment procedures to the armed forces, police, SSS and others, we will shall not get the right people. These are some things that need to be done. The bitter truth is better.
“And then funding to our military is critical. Let us investigate how much has been trickled down. The commanding officers are important, procurement processes are also very important. Then, stronger solidarity among the security forces and sustained campaigns needed to finish up the remnants of the insurgents in the fringes of the north east is very important.”
On the worries raised in some quarters that he was shutting down some Internally Displaced Persons, (IDP) camps in Borno State, Zulum said he was rather relocating the people from the camps to either their ancestral homes or local government headquarters in dignified manner because of the high rate of prostitution, sexual violence, gangsterism, and irresponsible procreation, and other crimes going on in the camps.
Besides, he say he recognised the essence of having the people return to their farms and engage in productive activities, as food insecurity can be a huge challenge.
“My resilience has helped contain terrorism, else other parts of Nigeria would have been taken over. Food insecurity is a worse form of insecurity, if people can farm and produce food, terrorism will even get worse,” he said.
Governor Zulum debunked the report that two local government areas of the state are under the control of terrorists, stressing instead that though there is no human population in the areas, the military have taken over the council areas, and that the State government was awaiting the green light to resettle the original inhabitants.
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