THE Federal Government has blamed international partners for the reason it is yet to successfully prosecute the war against Boko Haram insurgency in the northeastern region.
Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, said this on Monday in Makurdi while reacting to issues of insecurity and the killing of 110 rice farmers in Borno State during the weekend.
Mohammed said the Buhari administration has made an attempt to acquire a better platform to prosecute the war but it has been denied this support for some unknown reasons.
While stressing that there is a need for more global support to tackle terrorism, he stated that without adequate weapons, the nation will remain at the mercy of terrorists.
“But you must also note that we are dealing with terrorists who are financed globally and we also need more support from global partners. For instance, Nigeria has made an attempt to acquire a better and more effective platform to deal with terrorists but for one reason or the other we have been denied this platform, these weapons and without adequate weapons or platform we remain at the mercy of terrorists,” he said.
“You see fighting terrorists is not a joke because what actually happened in Borno State is unfortunate but you must also look at the strategy of the terrorists.
“Terrorists use media and publicity as oxygen, so when they go on this kind of mindless killing of people. It is not that the government is not doing enough. Terrorism whether in Afghanistan or anywhere in the world has the same concept, a group of people who are extremist in their thoughts who don’t think that you and I should be alive.
“When we talk about terrorism, people don’t seem to appreciate that terrorism is not a local issue, it is a global issue and there is no part of the world that doesn’t experience its own pocket of terrorism.”
Mohammed’s statement failed to acknowledge repeated and renewed calls by Nigerians and socio-political organizations that the president should create room for fresh ideas in the fight against terrorism and ravaging insecurity in the country by sacking his service chiefs who he appointed in 2015.
In July, the Nigeria Senate asked President Buhari to ask the service chiefs to step aside in a resolution moved by Ali Ndume who was ambushed by suspected bandits in Katsina State, leading to the death of 16 soldiers and 28 others, wounded.
But in a swift response, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, then said the presidency noted the “resolution and the president as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, will do what is in the best interest of the country at all times.”
Adesina reminded the senate how it is only in the prerogative of the president to appoint and sack his service chiefs.
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