Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has revealed the reason behind perennial incursion of terrorists into Nigeria.
Ayade, who spoke on Channel Television‘s Sunrise Daily on Thursday morning, said Nigeria has become attractive to territorists because of its huge solid minerals deposit.
He added that the insecurity ravaging the country has an international angle to it as foreign powers scramble to extract Nigeria’s mineral resources.
“Nigeria has so many essential elements and metals of economic interests. So, the solid minerals deposit has become a source of challenge to the nation.
“Nigeria has a large deposit of tantalite, they have led, they have zink, they have gold, uranium, the deposits are so huge. Most times in Africa when you have such a deposit, it’s just an invitation for crisis because they [foreign actors] will keep you unsettled so that they can do the exploration.
“The collapse of Afghanistan means that ISWAP sees West Africa as their own God-given province.”
He said the agenda is to wipe out all residents of the sub-region as they see Muslims and Christians of this area as infidels.
“So, they have the policy to occupy West Africa and with the collapse of Afghanistan, they now have access to power, they have a sovereign nation called their own, they deal on drugs, sell those drugs to raise funds, buy arms and prosecute a huge war,” he added.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari had done well to keep Nigeria together despite these attacks.
“ISWAP has so much capacity today – Boko Haram linked to Al-Qaeda, ISWAP linked to ISIS are all targeting Nigeria, her natural resources,” Ayade stressed.
He said the security challenges in Nigeria were not a result of leadership failure but a global issue with an international dimension with the intention of keeping Nigeria unstable.
“You need some international strategic and security connections to address the issue. This is far beyond the President and the capacity of the President of Nigeria,” he said.
He said the nation must cry out to the international community and seek sophisticated digital and no-contact technology to address the security challenges in Nigeria.