The Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, has declared support for Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum’s request for President Muhammadu Buhari to engage mercenaries to fight Boko Haram.
Ishaku said they should be involved to assist the Nigerian military in its ongoing fight against terrorists.
Darius spoke, yesterday, in Maiduguri when he, alongside Governors of Adamawa – Ahmadu Fintiri; Bauchi – Bala Mohammed; and Gombe – Inuwa Yahaya; paid Zulum a sympathy visit in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
It would be recalled that last Saturday, Boko Haram insurgents had slaughtered more than 43 farmers from the Zabarmari community.
The massacre has been regarded as one of the most gruesome killings by the Boko Haram sect.
Ishaku said they were saddened and traumatized by the heinous crime.
“I will key into your (Zulum) request, which you said that the Federal Government should invite some mercenaries to come and help us out of this problem, because what you can’t do, what you can’t solve. I think we should invite who can solve it for us.
“We cannot continuously be mourning, there has to be a time to stop the mourning. All of us in the North-East Governors’ Forum, we are pleading with the Federal Government to find a solution to the issue of Boko Haram because, if we neglect it, it will become even worse,” he said.
The Taraba helmsman also appealed to the Federal Government to fix the infrastructural deficit in the North-East.
“We call on the Federal Government to look at the North-East with sympathy. It is embarrassing that in the 2021 budget, what is given to the North-East is 0.35 per cent. With all these problems, the insurgency, the insecurity, only 0.35 per cent was allocated for the region. This is very unfair.
“The Federal Government should look at the issue of infrastructure in the North-East. I, once again, call on the Federal Government to remember the Mambilla hydropower project. Without power, we will not, indeed, have any meaningful development”, Ishaku added.
In his remarks, the Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum expressed appreciation to the delegation for the visit.
Also miffed by the current state of insecurity in the country, some elders in the country under the aegis of Coalition of Nigeria Elders for Peace and Good Governance (CONEPAGG) have urged the Federal Government to seek foreign help to tackle the worsening situation.
The elders, whose call was necessitated by the latest killings of innocent farmers in Borno and Sokoto states by both insurgents and bandits, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to save Nigeria of further loss of lives of its citizens by not only immediately removing the service chiefs but also completely rejigging the entire security architecture.
They equally appealed to the United Nations Security Council to intervene in Nigeria’s growing deteriorating security situation, asking the international security body to consider stiff sanctions against any member state that refuses to sell arms to the country.
They stated their positions in a statement, yesterday, and signed by the National Coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni; Coordinator for South-West, Prof. Adebola Adeboye; Coordinator for South-East, Dr. Ugwuanyi Emeka; Coordinator in North-West, Sheik Ibrahim Mohammed; Coordinator in North-Central, Barrister Peter Shima; Coordinator, North-East, Hajiya Zainab Bulama; and Coordinator of South-South region, Dr. Solomon Dagogo; respectively.
The elders said their action followed an emergency meeting convened to air their feelings and present their demands to the Nigerian authorities as well as appeal to the necessary international bodies for possible intervention in the country’s worsening security situation.
“As concerned Nigerians with love for our dear country, we had to urgently summon this emergency meeting to appraise the current security situation and proffer possible solutions.
“Today, December 1, 2020, we are here in Abuja to appraise the security situation in the country, particularly in the North, and make some necessary and urgent demands on the President, Muhammadu Buhari; the National Assembly and the United Nations Security Council,” the statement read.
They condemned the gruesome killing of farmers in Borno State by insurgents, describing the action as inhuman and barbaric.
“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms ever, the barbaric, senseless, and gruesome killing of over 43 Nigerian farmers in Borno State”, they said, adding: “Our hearts are with the families and people of Borno State.”
The elders also took a swipe at the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, over a statement credited to him to the effect that the farmers died of carelessness, demanding that he be sacked immediately.
“We also describe as unfortunate, the senseless, irresponsible and insensitive statement credited to Mallam Garba Shehu, the spokesman of the president, who made a statement suggesting that the innocent farmers died out of their carelessness.
“Nothing can be more callous and insensitive as this statement at a time the whole country is mourning. We demand his immediate sack by Mr. President to serve as a deterrent to people who always put his government in a bad light,” the statement read.
According to them, “The insecurity in Nigeria, particularly in the North, has taken an alarming and dangerous dimension, and we strongly believe that now is the time to act swiftly or we will have ourselves to blame.
“Food security is already threatened, inflation and recession are already terribly with us. If nothing is done within these few days, Nigeria may collapse totally,” they added.
They said: “Our demand as Nigerians with repute and equal stake like other well-meaning Nigerians in the country from the executive are: Immediate sack of the current service chiefs and replace them with younger generals with federal character colouration that have the zeal and commitment to change the game on insecurity immediately.”
The other demands, according to the elders, are “total overhaul of the entire intelligence and security architecture of the country for effective results; increase in the budgetary provision and early release of funds by the Federal Ministry of Finance to security sector because we discovered that lack of timely release of funds to all the security agencies has hampered operation and quick response.
“Our police stations don’t even have fuel in their vehicles to respond to threats, allowances of troops in the North-West and North-East and Niger Delta have not been paid for months,” they claimed, asking: “How can we be that insensitive to the people on the frontline? How can our security be active with an empty stomach and low motivation?”
They called on the National Assembly to stop the consideration of the 2021 Budget until President Buhari sacks the service chiefs, saying the president’s retention of the security chiefs in spite of the resolutions of both chambers of the National Assembly, asking for change was an affront on the supremacy of the Legislature.
“Our demand for the Legislative Arm is one: Stop every deliberation on the 2021 Budget until Mr. President sacks the service chiefs and restructures the entire security architecture in accordance with the resolutions of the two chambers of the National Assembly to that effect. The action of the president in ignoring the resolutions is no doubt, an affront on the Legislature,” they said.
The second demand on the National Assembly from the elders, according to the statement, is for the Legislature to immediately commence debate on true federalism.
The elders called on the United Nations Security Council to, “as a matter of urgency, come to our aid in the fight against insurgency and banditry because the most powerful nation in Africa is about to be consumed with insecurity and hunger.
“We demand that they sanction any member state that refuses to sell arms and military hardware to Nigeria going forward,” they said.
In the statement, the elders appealed to the youths to believe in Nigeria and continue to pursue their demands for a better Nigeria peacefully and legally without taking laws into their hands.