The Citizens Against Insurgency (CAI) has condemned the call by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State for Chadian troops to help fight Boko Haram terrorists, describing it as “irresponsible” and “ill-conceived”.
According to the group, ” no governor worth the mandate was supposedly given to him by the electorate, who are Nigerians, should ruminate over such outrageous proposition talk less of voicing it out”.
The Citizens Against Insurgency made these known in a press statement signed by Director of Strategy and Communication, Adamu Bala, on Thursday.
The group wondered the rationale behind Zulum’s acton considering the ties between Boko Haram, Chadian government and France.
” The Citizens Against Insurgency is alarmed by the ill-conceived appeal by the Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Zulum to President Muhammadu Buhari to invite Chadian troops to help fight Boko Haram,” the statement reads.
“We condemn this call by the Borno State governor as irresponsible and underpinned by an abysmal lack of understanding about the roles being played by international politics of geostrategic interests and the dynamics of terrorism.
“With the kind of demand that Governor Zulum made, we now have a fairer understanding of how and why he continues to put himself in harm’s way to the extent that his convoy came under attack from Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists thrice in a short span of time.
“It is inconceivable how the Chief Security Officer of Borno State, which is most ravaged by the evil activities of the terrorists, can contemplate the Chadian Army as being part of the solution when in reality it is a major source of the problem.
“This kind of mindset is possible only for someone that is unaware that Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists always get free passes to flee into Chadian territory after committing atrocities in Nigeria. The well-publicized offensive by the Chadian military against Boko Haram was merely a face-saving measure after the terrorists killed some troops contrary to the arrangement they have with Chadian authorities to not interfere with their insurgency.
“Governor Zulum should have rather approached Chad’s colonial master, France, which still pulls the strings to make that francophone country appear to like being active in countering insurgency.
“It is too soon for the well-educated governor to have forgotten the accounts of survivors of terror attacks who reported airdrops of logistics and supplies to terrorists’ camps by French livered helicopters or the French trainers that have been arrested with terrorists in the past.
“The French interest in fossil fuel around the Lake Chad Basin and its quest to control Uranium mining from the area spanning Chad through Mali is not something that a highly placed governor like Zulum should reckon without.
“Citizens Against Insurgency counts it as unfortunate that the Borno State government has never demonstrated a capacity to listen or heed advice or else we woulprescribeed that he submits himself to the tutelage of experts to properly educate him on how Nigeria’s (Borno’s) francophone neighbours, Niger, Chad and Cameroon repeatedly frustrated efforts at building a multi-nations coalition against the terrorists by failing to hold their side of the assignment”.
The group, however, conceded that Governor Zulum’s antics is jeopardizing Nigeria’s ability to properly respond to Boko Haram terrorists through the constant distractions he constitutes to the military in addition to the surreptitious activities of the state’s stakeholders.
“He must note that Nigerians and even Borno people find his obsession and romance with Chad unnerving like when he sometimes ago visited that country in a faux pax that saw him usurping the roles of a President by undertaking activities that would ordinarily be reserved for heads of state,” the statement added.
“Citizens Against Insurgency strongly recommends that Governor Zulum takes the advice offered by his peers and fellow governors as conveyed by the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state who admonished him to exercise caution in his activities in the state. Governor Zulum should desist from activities that undermine efforts to restore peace and security to Borno state and its environs”.