From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has alleged that some individuals within and outside the government, including the communities are benefiting, financially and otherwise, in the Boko Haram crisis, hence they work against an end to the over 10 years old crisis.
Zulum, in an interview with BBC Hausa, noted that as soon as it looked as if the insurgents were being defeated and eliminated by the military, something from nowhere will refuel their fire with reinvigorated spirit and strength to fight again.
“We recorded tremendous progress in the fight against these insurgents in the past few months. But recently, they resurfaced and even invaded some communities through Chad Republic, where they received serious firepower from the Chadian soldiers.
“The firepower from the Chadian soldiers was as a result of their recent attacks that led to the death of some Chadian soldiers. As a result, they found their way to our territory in Borno State, but the Nigerians’ soldiers responded promptly, resulting in the death of so many of them.
“A few days ago, the insurgents invaded the Kukawa community for the purposes of attack, but they were met with stronger firepower from the Nigerian soldiers. Many of them were killed. That was a commendable move. Truly, God has helped us tremendously except for what we are witnessing lately.”
He advised the military against complacency and urged them to rise to the occasion and chase the insurgents back to wherever they are coming from.
“I can confirm to you that some people don’t want an end to this crisis, and that’s the reason why we keep recording back and forth success in the fight.
“You can imagine some individuals from the communities providing food and drug supplies to the insurgents in the bushes where they camped. Nevertheless, we would defeat these people and end the war. But doing that requires the cooperation of all citizens, including the community leaders and security agencies.
“We had these challenges of poor cooperation between the security agencies and the communities, but that has been resolved, and we have begun to see the changes in the fight against Boko Haram.”
The governor, however, added that he has halted periodic distribution of food items to people in communities in most of the local government areas because the government has succeeded in returning them to their ancestral lands.
He said: “What we are working towards now is providing the opportunity for the people to fend for themselves. Before now, I have visited some LGAs every month to distribute food items, but that has stopped. My attention is now on 2 or 3 LGAs, where their challenges are still much. We have tried to move the people back to the farm so they can fend for themselves.”
He appealed to the federal government to increase security detachments in Borno State so they can sustain the momentum and possibly bring the activities of Boko Haram insurgent to an end as soon as possible.