You are complicating matters, Governor Zulum told

By KEMI KASUMU

“Zulum is complicating matters. Can’t he hire two drones to be flying over Borno and covering activities especially over Sambisa. Since he doesn’t know the truth, let’s tell him. The first people to connive with terrorist are locals and they are also the greatest defence,” he said.

Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has been told that his alarm accusing the Army of being responsible for unending Boko Haram activities in the North East only complicates the security situation.

A concerned Nigerian, Benjamin Amaechi
@2_amaechi on his Twitter handle said the governor did not know the truth of what is happening and that he needed to be told, adding that those who connived with Boko Haram terrorists providing them the intelligence with which they carry out some of their coward attacks are from among the very locals he vowed to return to for help since, according to him, it was becoming difficult for the Army to occupy Baga.

“Zulum is complicating matters. Can’t he hire two drones to be flying over Borno and covering activities especially over Sambisa. Since he doesn’t know the truth, let’s tell him. The first people to connive with terrorist are locals and they are also the greatest defence,” he said.

The Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, had insisted that some members of the Nigerian Army were sabotaging the effort to end insurgency in the North East. He believes that on the day of his attack, the number of troops in Baga should not have given insurgents a breathing space but that the attack took place at all mean they were soldiers who did the firing at his convoy.

Although the troops commander argued that the firing happened by five Boko Haram terrorists who only hid along the road to Baga but that inside the town there is no Boko Haram “I can assure Your Excellency,” he said. He added that the terrorists were discovered and handled.

Also on Sunday when he met with the Governors of Kebbi and Jigawa states, Atiku Bagudu and Badaru Abubakar, respectively, who paid him a solidarity visit over the recent attack on his convoy in Baga – a town in Borno State, Governor Zulum reiterated his position.

He believes some elements are trying to frustrate the effort of the government in ending the insurgency and that President Muhammadu Buhari needed to know the truth.

He said, “Let me also re-echo my previous position with respect to the level of insurgency in Borno State, I earlier said that the gravity of the insurgency cannot be compared with what has happened between 2011 to 2015, and 2015 to date. Yes, it’s true. The President has done well.

“But there’s sabotage in the system that will not allow insurgency to end; the President has to know this very important point.”

“When he came to Maiduguri two months ago, I said so because between 2011 to 2015, at a time, almost about 22 LGAs were under the insurgents.

“Out of the four main roads that lead to Maiduguri. only one was functional,” the governor added.

He, therefore, called on the President to examine the security situation in the region critically, to ensure the effort of his administration was not in vain.

Recounting his experience during his recent trip to Baga town, Governor Zulum said it was a terrible one.

He insisted that there was no justification for what he described as preventing residents displaced by insurgency from returning to their ancestral homes.

“There’s one very important question that we need to ask, why is the insurgency not ending? There’s sabotage in the system and there’s a need for the President to examine the current situation with a view to resolving it.

The meeting, which was also attended by the state Deputy Governor, Umar Kadafur, held at the Government House in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Also present was the immediate past Governor of Borno, Senator Kashim Shettima, as well as Senator Ali Ndume and members of the State Executive Council.