BORNO: Zulum names insurgents’ hideouts, urges military to ‘take the war’ to them

GOVERNOR Babangana Zulum of Borno has urged the Army to take the war to Boko Haram terrorists following his disclosure of three major hideouts of the insurgents in the state.

Zulum revealed that the locations were the shores of the Lake Chad, Mandara Hills (mountains located along the Nigerian-Cameroon border), and the Sambisa Game Reserve.

The governor made the disclosure while featuring on Channels TV’s programme, ‘Politics Today.’

Zulum, who restated that peace was gradually returning to many parts of the state, noted that the military must establish stabilisation mechanisms to get rid of Boko Haram remnants after any aerial bombardment by the Air Force.

He said, “In terms of the military, their number is lean. We need more military personnel in Borno State. They are overwhelmed. For them to defeat the insurgents, the Nigerian Army needs to recruit more into the system because we have 27 local government areas, and then how many soldiers do we have? Honestly, there is a need for the Federal Government to recruit more youths into the army and police to bridge the gap.

“The second thing is the presence of the insurgents on the shores of the Lake Chad, Sambisa Game Reserve and Mandara Hills. They leave these places and come to attack the people and then go back to the hideouts. We want the military to take the war to these three critical areas with a view to eliminating them.

Governor Zulum, who hailed the military for doing a great job, said, “The military needs to do more because I don’t think they have access to these areas. The only solution for us to defeat the insurgents is to take the war to the shores of the Lake Chad, Mandara Hills and the Sambisa Game Reserve. All they (military) are doing now is a temporary solution. The permanent solution is to ensure the remnants of the insurgents are cleared from these three territories.”

 Zulum said between 2011 and 2015, 22 out of 27 local government areas in the state were completely under the control of the insurgents, adding that about 5,000 classrooms, 800 municipal buildings and 736 energy distribution lines were destroyed.

“We had over 53,000 orphans and 54,000 widows during the period. (But) honestly speaking, we have started witnessing the gradual return of peace to Borno State from 2015 till date.”

He lamented that most of the local government areas were not accessible and that the government wanted to ensure that people have access to their means of livelihood.

Clarifying his suggestion that the Federal Government should hire mercenaries, the governor said this did not necessarily mean the Nigerian Army would leave the task completely to soldiers from the neighbouring countries

He said, “No, we have three areas in Borno State where the insurgents are right now living. One of these areas is the shores of Lake Chad. The other one is Mandara Hills and the third one is the Sambisa Game Reserve.

“The Lake Chad shores share boundary with the Republic of Chad; that is why I’m advocating for a collaboration between the Chadian soldiers and the Nigerian army under the auspices of the Multinational Joint Task Force to form a coalition with a bid to defeating the insurgents on the shores of the Lake Chad.

“In the Mandara Hills, we are neighbours with Cameroon and Cameroonians will also partner with the Nigerian Army to clear the insurgents in the Mandra Hills, while the Sambisa Game Reserve is a very large area.”