Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara on Tuesday accused security agencies and monarchs of knowing the whereabouts of Boko Haram terrorists.
He also roped in some members of the public in the North-East saying they know where the terrorists could be found.
Speaking at the North-East Security Summit organised by the Office of the Inspector-General of Police and hosted by the Borno State Government in Maiduguri, he said since the security agencies know where to find the terrorists, all that was left to be done was to take the war to them.
“The whereabouts of these criminals are known to the Nigerian military, the police, the civil defence corps, the Department of State Services, the traditional rulers and most members of the public. All that we need to do is to take the war to these criminals’ doorsteps. Another important thing we need to do urgently is the restoration of civil authority to the geopolitical zone.”
Umar a urged his counterparts in the North-East geopolitical zone not to allow any of its citizens to be displaced by the Boko Haram terrorists again.
In his own comments, the Yobe State Governor Mai-Mala Buni suggested a new approach to the war against terrorism as the military option had not succeeded in ending the crisis.
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His words: “We strongly believe that while the military’s efforts to contain insurgency is necessary, we must actively explore and engage in dialogue. As records show, no conflict of this nature anywhere in the world has ever been resolved solely by military option.
“As we transit to a post-insurgency era with the relative peace that our state now enjoys, there are emerging security threats that we are equally very concerned about.
“The rising cases of rape, kidnapping, robbery, homicide, conflict between farmers and pastoralists and cattle-rustling are challenges we have to confront seriously.”
Representative of the Senate President at the summit, Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, lamented the low budgetary allocation to the military as well as the low number of soldiers and officers in the nation’s military, saying such implied the country was not ready to end the war on terrorism anytime soon.
According to Ndume, the Nigerian Army had 154,000 soldiers and 6,000 officers when it needed a minimum of 400,000 soldiers.
