SHEHU Sani, a former Nigerian senator, has described as foolishness for Nigeria in her 60-years of independence to abandon her defense industry and rely on the western world for defense needs.
“It’s also foolish for Nigeria at 60 to abandon its local defense industry and rely on import,” he said while reacting to statements by Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture blaming the government’s failure to prosecute the ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast on global partners.
Mohammed, who stated this to newsmen in Makurdi on Monday, 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.
Shehu, while condemning the west’s decision to deny the country the sale of weapons to prosecute the ongoing war against terror, also said that it is inexcusable for the country to fail, noting that Nigeria should explore other countries that sell weapons.
“It’s wrong for the West to deny Nigeria the sale of weapons to prosecute its war on terror. It’s inexcusable for Nigeria to fail considering that there are other countries that sell weapons,” he added.
The ICIR had reported on Saturday how rice farmers were brutally murdered on Saturday in Kwashebe Zabarmari axis of Jere Local Government Area of Borno State.
A BBC report also shows that the deceased were attacked, tied and beheaded by the Boko Haram insurgents while they were harvesting rice on their farms.
The United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said that many others were wounded with several women taken away by the insurgents.
The Abubakar Shekau’s faction of the insurgents claimed responsibility for the killings in a three-minute and thirty-seven-second video released on Tuesday.
The group said it killed 78 farmers during the attack because the farmers arrested and handed one of its brothers to the Nigerian Army.
It warned that those arresting their members and giving out intelligence on their activities to the military will face the same fate if they did not desist from doing so.
“You think you can nab our brother and hand him to soldiers and live in peace,” a veiled man asked in the video.
“You think Allah will forget what you have done to our brother.”
“The third message is on those who notoriously nab our brethren and hand them to the military or give them a clue on us, you should know that, unless you repent, what happened to your people is awaiting you.”
According to Global Conflict Tracker, Boko-Haram has killed more than 37,500 since May 2011. The group has also displaced an estimated 2.5 million persons in the Lake Chad Basin. It is also responsible for nearly 244,000 number of Nigerian refugees.
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