Bring mercenaries back
Zulum requested for foreign fighters less than 24 hours after President Buhari said he had given the Nigerian military forces all they required to tackle Boko Haram fighters.
Daily Trust reports that thousands of military operatives including the army, navy, air force; as well as the police, DSS, civil defence, customs and immigration personnel, are currently in the North East, especially in Borno and Yobe States over the security challenges there.
Zulum’s call yesterday was reminiscent of what happened ahead of the 2015 general election when the then President Goodluck Jonathan, bowing to pressure, sort for the support of mercenaries from South Africa.
Jonathan also entered into an agreement with the Chadian President, Idriss Deby, whose troops equally participated in the clearing of the shores of the Lake Chad region, while the South African mercenaries confronted Boko Haram fighters around the Sambisa forest and the Mandara Mountains, a development that paved the way for elections in the affected locations.
It was learnt that after Jonathan left, the special agreement with Chad was not renewed while the South African mercenaries were also asked to go.
Some security experts noted that the new Buhari administration at the time should have swallowed its pride and allow “the partnership” between Nigeria, South Africa and Chad to decimate the terrorists and bring back peace to the North East and beyond, saying “severing” the relationship was partly responsible for the lingering problem.
Zulum after listening to the federal government delegation, including all the promises of bringing an end to the over a decade-long Boko Haram insurgency, reeled out his six demands, which he said would bring a final solution to the problem.
According to him, “One of our recommendations as possible solutions to end the insurgency is the immediate recruitment of our youths into military and paramilitary services to complement the efforts of the Nigerian forces.
“Our second recommendation is to engage the services of our immediate neighbours, especially the government of Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic, in clearing the remnants of Boko Haram hiding in the shores of the Lake Chad.
“Our third recommendation is for him (Buhari) to engage the services of the mercenaries to clear the entire Sambisa forest.
“Our fourth recommendation is for him to provide the police and the military, with armed resistant armoured personnel carriers and other related equipment.
“We are also soliciting the support of the federal government to support the Borno State repatriation of our displaced persons currently residing in Cameroon and the Niger Republic.”
While soliciting for infrastructure, Zulum noted that the Boko Haram insurgency lingered for over 11 years because efforts have not been well coordinated to yield the desired result.
“If the federal can fix the bad roads in Borno and the North-east, the insurgency would be reduced by 60 per cent,” he said.