But for military contractors profiting from the misery of the people in the ongoing anti-insurgency war, and sycophants in government feeding President Tinubu with false narratives about the war, the terrorism ravaging the North, particularly Borno State, for nearly 16 years now, would have long ended, the Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Zulum has said.
As a matter of fact, Zulum said that but for those deleterious factors, Nigeria can defeat terrorism in six months, given the strength and professionalism of the nation’s soldiers.
Zulum, who spoke as a guest on News Central TV, a Nigerian television network, decried the bureaucratic bottlenecks currently bedeviling the procurement of military equipment, urging the federal government to cut off the unnecessarily tedious processes in addition to other urgent measures.
The Borno Governor insisted that the government could end the scourge of terrorism in six months if it could deal with the challenge posed by ‘contractocracy, a situation where the anti-terrorism war served principally the interests of contractors rather than broader national interests, lamenting that contractocracy, more than any other factor, is fueling the Boko Haram insurgency.
Revealing that over 80,000 persons had recently been displaced in Marte Local Government Area alone by the insurgents, Zulum, however, disclosed that his government is complementing the efforts of the armed forces, with the deployment of over 1,000 civilian joint task force and vigilance group members.
Emphasising the bad influence of sycophants in the corridors of power, using their positions to promote a different narrative from the real situation in the troubled areas, the Governor pleaded with the President not to listen to them, but to trust the real actors in the field.
His words: “My plea is that, let us deal with this matter decisively. The President of Nigeria should listen to those that can distinguish their right and from left. Those that can tell him the right thing and not sycophants. He has a large heart to do the right thing. But he needs to understand what is happening on the ground.
“A few days ago, I said there was a resurgence of insurgency in Borno State. I commended the federal government for doing very well and that we should come together to resolve the crisis. Some people said there is no insecurity in Borno State. We should not politicise insecurity.
“We must prioritise security. National and subnational governments must pool resources together to procure equipment. The army does not have the necessary equipment on ground to fight the insurgency. Right now, the insurgents are using drones to fight soldiers on the ground.
“We have informants and collaborators within the Nigerian armed forces, within the politicians, and within the communities. What we shall do is to strengthen our intelligence and to deal with them ruthlessly. Let’s remove contractocracy. In six months, we can put an end to this madness. We need not politicise insecurity.”
Speaking on the controversial policy by the army authorities to also apply non-kinetic means as one of the strategies to end the war, he agreed that it could work, saying: “Insurgency will never end with kinetic measures alone. We must ensure that the non-kinetic measures are also put in place. What I mean by non-kinetic measures are socio-political and economic dimensions of the crisis.
“Insurgency will never be ended by corrective measures alone. Among the 300,000 or more that have repented, I cannot rule out the possibility of a few of them going back to the bush.”
Apparently not sold on the issue of state police, which many stakeholders including his fellow governors across the country suggest as a panacea, Zulum rather backed the recent plan by the federal government to deploy forest guards as a more workable option, provided that the recruits were from impacted communities.
Eulogising the military, he urged the President to not only equip them properly by listen to their commanders, adding that he was confident that with the right approach and unity among all tiers of government, insurgency would be decisively dealt with. (Whirlwind News)
