Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to invite the Chadian troops to join Nigerian Army in combating insurgency in the North East.
Governor Zulum whose convoy was attacked twice by the insurgents in one week, made the appeal while hosting some governors in Maiduguri, the state capital on Wednesday.
He said his appeal is not an attempt to undermine the effort of Nigerian soldiers, but stressed that no single army anywhere in the world has ever succeeded in quelling insurgency.
This was contained in a statement released by Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, spokesperson of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).
“Zulum pleaded with the federal government to ensure that Chadian soldiers are invited to join the Nigeria Army in the fight against insurgency if any meaningful success is to be recorded on the battleground,” the statement read.
“Zulum rationalised that no single army anywhere in the world has ever succeeded in quelling insurgency and requested that the government looked into ways of complementing the efforts of the Nigeria Army with the Chadian soldiers, emphasising it is not to undermine the Nigerian soldiers but to help them in finishing the job within a realistic deadline.
“The situation in our State has become very dire because, everything calls for endurance, commitment and dedication if our people were to be drawn out of the woods.
“Chad Basin used to employ about 10 million people while the Sambisa Grazing Reserve and the Mandara Mountains used to employ about 3 million people but the insurgents have made these places inaccessible to the people.”
