Borno gov to FG: Let’s hire mercenaries to defeat Boko Haram

Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to recruit mercenaries to get rid of Boko Haram insurgents from Sambisa forest.

He spoke on Monday when a Federal Government delegation visited Borno over the killing of at least 43 farmers, listing the hiring of mercenaries among recommendations to the President to stop the frequent attacks by insurgents in the state.

Those in the FG delegation are Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Ibrahim Gambari, chief of staff to the president; Babagana Monguno, national security adviser, and some ministers.

Other recommendations by the governor include provision of armed resistant armoured personnel carriers, rehabilitation of roads and support for displaced persons.

He said, “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.”

The governor also said, “Our second recommendation is to engage the services of our immediate neighbours, especially the governments of Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic, in clearing the remnants of Boko Haram hiding on the shores of the Lake Chad.

“Our third recommendation is for him 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 out displaced persons currently residing in Cameroon and Niger Republic.”

Zulum added that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing had not constructed roads in the last 25 years “in Borno State and most parts of the North-East”.

He said if the FG could fix the bad roads in Borno and the North-East, “the insurgency would be reduced by 60 per cent”.

Lawan sympathised with the state government over the killings and assured the people that the Buhari administration was committed to ending insurgency.

He said, “No efforts will be spared”, adding that the government will do “anything and everything until we take the fight against insurgency to their enclaves”.