Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator , has advised the Nigerian military authorities to change war tactics in the fight against the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east region.
Reacting to the reported withdrawal of 10,000 Chadian troops from the fight against Boko Haram, Ndume told THISDAY yesterday that Nigerian government would need to change its tactics in the move to fight the Boko Haram insurgents.
He said there’s an urgent need for the Nigerian troops at the warfronts not to concentrate only on the defensive, but to engage in advanced war tactics.
The senator added that the soldiers under the supervision of their commanders should now take the battle to the domain of the insurgents.
According to him, “For a very long time, the Nigerian military approach had been to defend the Nigerian territories against the onslaught of the insurgents, but the time is nigh for them to engage in an advanced war by taking the battle to the doorsteps of the insurgents wherever they may be in the North-east.”
He described as inadequate the 30,000 Nigerian soldiers fighting insurgency in three North-eastern states namely Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The military, he added, needs to increase the strength of its personnel if the fight against Boko Haram insurgency is to be successful.
Ndume expressed concern that the withdrawal of Chadian troops would compromise the safety of the people around the Lake Chad fringes.
While stating that people have started fleeing the affected areas where the ISWAP forces operate from, he called on the federal government to take immediate steps to address the situation.
“I hope the federal government will react appropriately and timely to this development so as to forestall mass movement of people from the fringes of Lake Chad where the withdrawn Chadian soldiers use to secure.
“Government should be able to do something in time because of the suffering of the people as the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps there are now overcrowded with humanitarian crisis looming,” he said.
