Zulum asks Buhari to engage mercenaries to wipe out Boko Haram

Yusuf Bello| Bornu state governor, Babagana Zulum on Monday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to recruit mercenaries to tackle the menance posed by the Boko Haram insurgents.

Zulum, who made the suggestions when he received members of a presidential delegation who visited Borno to commiserate with the people of the state following the killing of 43 farmers in Koshobe Village, listed hiring of mercenaries among his recommendations to the president over the frequent attacks in the state.

Other recommendations by the governor include provision of armed resistant armoured personnel carriers, rehabilitation of roads and support for displaced persons.

“One of our recommendations as possible solutions to end the insurgency is the immediate recruitment of our youths into military and paramilitary services to complement the efforts of the Nigerian forces,” he said.

“Our second recommendation is to engage the services of our immediate neighbours, especially the government of Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic, in clearing the remnants of Boko Haram hiding in the shores of the Lake Chad.

“Our third recommendation is for him to engage the services of the mercenaries to clear the entire Sambisa forest.

“Our fourth recommendation is for him to provide the police and the military, with armed resistant armoured personnel carriers and other related equipment.

“We are also soliciting the support of the federal government to support the Borno state repatriation of out displaced persons currently residing in Cameroon and Niger Republic.”

Zulum added that the federal ministry of works had not constructed roads in the last 25 years “in Borno State and most parts of the North-east”.

According to him, the federal government can fix the bad roads in Borno and the north-east, “the insurgency would be reduced by 60 percent”.

It would be recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan recruited mercenaries to assist the Nigerian army in the war against the insurgents during but President Buhari terminated the contract on assumption office, after describing the move as sign of the depth of weakness of the Nigerian army.