Northeast Governors Forum has revealed the possibility of forming a security outfit within the ambit of constitutional precedent and operational feasibility as has been done in other parts of the country as steps to tackle rising insecurity in the sub-region.
The Chairman of the Forum and Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, who disclosed this during the opening ceremony of the 4th meeting of the North-East Governors Forum held in Bauchi on Wednesday, said that the current escalation of deadly attacks by terrorists and the various causes of actions being pursued to fight insurgents has some limitations in terms of the expected impact, hence the need for a new set of a pragmatic and result-oriented initiative to be deployed to completely subdue the terrorists.
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“On our part, in addition to the logistic and financial support we are rendering to the armed forces in their fight against general insecurity in the sub-region, we should also look into the possibility of forming a security outfit within the ambit of constitutional precedent and operational feasibility as has been done in other parts of the country,” he said
Mercenaries
The Chairman called on the Federal Government to seek support of mercenaries from neighboring countries to enable it win the war against insurgents in the country, adding that Nigeria is fighting a war it cannot win alone.
He said, “The government should also seek for support from neighbouring countries such as the Republic of Chad, Cameroon and Niger with a view to providing a joint action that will look into the possibility of ending this crisis.”
“The federal government has to look into the possibility of involving mercenaries with a view to ending this insurgency because it seems that the commitment is not there.
“Therefore, for us to end this insurgency, we must be committed enough, we must bring in external support to ensure that mercenaries are hired to end this insurgency,” he said.
The governor lamented the devastating effects of insurgency in Borno State, which is the theatre of the war.
He added, “It is regrettable that for seven weeks now the entire Borno State has been cut off from the national grid of electricity power supply due to the damage done to the mainline of supply to the area.”
He also advised the new service chiefs to device new strategies to counter the attacks of insurgency and forestall any future acts of terrorism in the Northeast sub-region.
Gov Bala Mohammed
Earlier in his remark, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, emphasized the need to stand up and fight the insurgents with all vigour so that the terrorists when defeated will not be able to regroup again and peace will return to the subregion.
He said, “Our fight against insurgency must be total because by the time Maiduguri is subdued, then we are not safe here too.
“Security infrastructure must be put in place to be able to fight this war considering the sophistication of the terrorists.”
“If we must be honest, the public opinion at the moment is that we have failed, that many of our people have resorted to self-help in order to get away from this despondency.
“We must accept the fact that the over-centralization of the security arrangement is an obsolete school.
“We will not just sit down and watch when terrorists will overrun us, we must stand up to fight them, chase them away and ensure that our areas are well secured. We must do everything possible to protect our people from the terrorists.”
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