The Borno Elders Forum has said the state of emergency declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states has made no positive impact because the soldiers fighting insurgency are not well equipped and catered for.
They said rather, the insurgency had increased under the emergency.
The forum said the military had become hopeless because they had not been provided with adequate equipment and facilities with which to tackle the insurgents.
Soldiers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army at the Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri, had mutinied twice in two weeks for unpaid allowances, for being ill-equipped and for their commander’s approach to the insurgency, which had led to the death of many of their colleagues.
The soldiers had demonstrated and shot at the car of the General Officer Commanding, Maj.-Gen. Ahmadu Mohammed.
Again on Thursday, Brig.-Gen. M.Y. Ibrahim, who replaced Mohammed, was reportedly manhandled by the soldiers for banning operations of commercial motorcycles and tricycles in the barracks, as well as for unpaid allowances.
An online news medium, Sahara Reporters quoted a military source as saying, “We can finish them [Boko Haram] without difficulty but the commanders don’t give us enough weapons for operations. And they send only a few of us to fight hundreds of Boko Haram fighters.”
In an interview with our correspondent on Thursday, the General Secretary of the BEF, Bulama Gubio, said the lack of needed military wares had exposed security personnel to more risks in the fight against the sect.
“We just expose them to danger without protecting them,” he said.
Gubio said while extending the rule, FG should equip security agencies and their personnel with necessary facilities that would make them win the war.
He said, “It is not emergency alone that can fight insurgency to a finish. When you declare a state of emergency, you match it up with what is required to carry out such an emergency. When you declare an emergency for up to a year and the situation is getting worse, then there is no meaning for the word ‘state of emergency.’”
Gubio, however, stated that while the elders were not opposed to the emergency rule, they were not happy with how it was being implemented.
Gubio said, “Nobody is opposed to it, if that is what is needed. When you declare a state of emergency and you restrict the movement of the people; subject them to all manner of humiliation; when they are held for up to 10 hours sometimes, yet the insurgents operate freely, then the emergency works against the general interest of the public, not against the insurgents.”
He advised that the Federal Government should employ intelligence, the local population, the vigilance and other local groups. “Our people are brave enough to give information,” he added.
Gubio told added that Nigeria did not need foreign intervention on Boko Haram, since the country had one of the best military forces in the world.
He, however, said the foreign assistance received by Nigeria was welcome, since Nigeria had given similar assistance to other countries. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Those elders are fools. How can they blame anyone for the problem they created? Who are those harbouring the insurgents? Shameless extremists
ReplyDeleteThe elders should talk to their brothers who are commanders in the millitary and frustrating the efforts of the FG. FG releases funds to all MDAs but the so called ogas on top deprives staff of their allowances and other entitlement and nobody complains for fear of witchhuntment. If not BH incidence the millitary boys would have kept quiet. Corruption in the land smelling everywhere. The elders should call their brothers in the millitary to order that is if they are not part of the BH menace.
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