Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, wednesday in Abuja implored the federal government to seek alternative ways of ending insurgency in the North-east that is devoid of military use of force.
Zulum who made this submission in the State House after holding a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, said exploring other options in ending the battle against terrorism had become imperative.
He cited one of the options that could be explored in tackling the menace to include the integration of some youths in the region who had been co-opted into Boko Haram.
He said, ”There are opportunities in bringing down the crisis rather than the kinetic force. It is also important for those people who have been forced to join the insurgency – if they are integrated into the society; I think this will be good.
”You are aware that some incidents occurred two, three days ago where about 40 people were killed in Konduga. By and large, we are aware of steps the president is willing to take that will virtually bring that issue to a standstill.
”There is an existing policy within the military called ‘Operation Safe Corridor’ just to strengthen the system. By and large, we are optimistic that Borno State will bounce back again.”
Zulum said he was in the State House to discuss with Buhari on how the federal government could strengthen the current security situation in Borno State and improve on the livelihood of the people of the state.
He added, ”We want to address the root causes of insurgency, especially the issue of access roads, access to farm lands and the issue of strengthening civilian JTF and the military to do their jobs better than before. “
On the recent deadly attacks in the state by Boko Haram, Zulum said: ”The issue of security is not what you discuss anyhow. But the government of the state is collaborating with the military and other other security agencies to ensure that the citizens are well-protected.
“On my part, I am also trying to strengthen the locals to be resilient enough especially by providing them with logistics like vehicles and others so that they can undertake some surveillance to support the military.”
