From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has urged the Federal Government to take necessary steps to stop the spread of Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), the militant group and administrative division of Islamic State (IS), a Salafi jihadist group or else Boko Haram attacks will be a child’s play in Nigeria.
While urging the Nigerian Army to re-strategise and defeat ISWAP, Zulum said there was nothing wrong if the Federal Government requested external help in fighting insurgency as some of the advanced countries, including the United States and United Kingdom often ask for external help.
The governor also raised the alarm that two local government areas in the state were not occupied by human population owing to the inability of the military to effectively protect residents against terrorists.
He stated this at the 28th briefing by the Presidential Communication Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, decrying the recruitment process into the armed forces and other security agencies, saying unless the trend was addressed the country’s insecurity challenge would continue to deteriorate.
The Borno governor said while early preparation is key towards the 2023 elections, it should not be done at the expense of losing focus on insecurity.
He lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for always granting him audience whenever he sought one saying “one of the major reason why we have been succeeding in the North East, particularly in Borno State, is because of one major fundamental thing. There was never a time I requested to see Mr. President and I was denied access.”
“But notwithstanding all the contributions of the Federal Government, we still have some challenges. One, I said it before, a growing number of ISWAP in some parts of the state is a matter of great concern to everybody. Why? They are in the shores of the Lake Chad, again in southern Borno State. Luckily enough, I was told there was military deployment yesterday (Wednesday) to southern Borno State to fight insurgents in the Tudun Katarangwa.
“But I think this is the early warning; we shouldn’t allow ISWAP to grow. ISWAP is more sophisticated, more funded and they’re 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 system Nigerian Army has to re-strategise 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.
“And then whether we like it or not a few days ago, I’ have said something about two local governments still not occupied by human population. I think that there is some certain level of misunderstanding. Some say that two local governments are under the control of Boko Haram, no. Two local governments are not occupied by human population. But whether we like it or not, if two local governments are not occupied, what does it mean? It means the capacity is not there to protect this human population to go to this local government areas.
“While Nigeria is providing a lot of things, the 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 existing gaps that we needs to be to filled and this gap by now cannot be filled without external support.”
He tasked the military to ensure immediate resettlement of people to Malam Fatori, which is the headquarters of Abadam LGA and Ogunbaden which is the headquarters of Mainari LGA.
The governor who listed various successes recorded by his administration, said the insurgency had triggered acute humanitarian and post-displacement crisis with devastating social and economic impact on the population, further deepening fragility and poverty in the North East region before the APC government came to the rescue.