Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno, on Monday, begged the Nigerian Armed Forces to, as a matter of urgency, launch an offensive attack on the terrorists’ safe haven in Tumbus, Mandara hills and Sambisa game to “end their madness.”
Mr Zulum made the appeal when the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, paid him a visit in Maiduguri.
The governor, who described the Tumbus Islands in Lake Chad as the Boko Haram and ISWAP’s strongholds, expressed concern over the inability of the military to rid the area.
“I want to bring to your kind notice that a thorough military operation, that involves the Naval, Air Force and Army, purposely intended to rid the Tumbus has never been conducted.
“If we want to bring down insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria, we must address the challenges we are facing in Lake Chad.
“The area has provided a safe haven for the terrorists; this is our major problem now.
“We still have two enclaves, the Sambisa Game Reserve as well as the Mandara hills.
“We need a coordinated operation with a view to addressing this menace in these areas,” he added.
Mr Zulum, however, urged the Nigerian Air Force to deploy more Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) into the theatre to achieve maximum results in the war against insurgency.
The governor further proposed the need for the command and control structures of the military to have a strategic thinking meeting in Maiduguri to tackle the insecurity challenges.
He, however, expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for his support to the military and solicited additional funding to enable them to acquire modern hardware to meet the counter-insurgency operational needs.
Earlier, Mr Aneke acknowledged the geostrategic importance of Borno to Nigeria’s security.
Mr Aneke said Borno’s borders and its location in the Lake Chad Basin made it a key strategic point in Nigeria’s efforts to secure the North-east and control cross-border activity.
The air chief said that was why the Nigerian Air Force regarded the restoration of lasting peace in Borno as an operational and moral imperative.
He said he has already directed an increased focus on operational readiness, integration with ground forces, and the intelligent application of airpower to support stabilisation efforts across the North-East.
(NAN)
