N’East govs back Zulum on mercenaries’ deployment

Governor of Taraba State, Mr. Darius Ishaku, has declared support for the request by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State that the Federal Government re-engages mercenaries to join the Nigerian Armed Forces in the ongoing fight against Boko Haram insurgents terrorizing the North-East.

Darius spoke yesterday in Maiduguri when he led other North-East governors namely, Ahmadu Fitiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe) on a sympathy visit to Borno State.

The visit came in the wake of brutal murder of over 40 farmers from Zabarmari community who were attacked by Boko Haram last Saturday at a village in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State. “Our dear brother, we are here to condole with you over the killing of farmers by Boko Haram insurgents.

We are, indeed, saddened and traumatized. I will key into your request, which you asked the Federal Government to invite some mercenaries to come and help us out of this problem, because what you can’t do, what you can’t solve, I think we should invite who can solve it for us.

“We cannot continuously be mourning, there has to be a time to stop the mourning. All of us in the North-East Governors’ Forum, we are pleading with the Federal Government to find a solution to the issue of Boko Haram because if we neglect it, it will become even worse,” he said.

Dairus also appealed to the Federal Government to look into the infrastructural deficit in the North-East. He urged the Federal Government to look at the North-East with sympathy, adding that it was embarrassing that the North-East gets only 0.35 per cent of the national budget.

“With all these problems we are having, with the insurgency, all the problems, with the insecurity, from the whole federal budget of Nigeria, 0.35% only allocated for the North- East.

This is very unfair. The Federal Government should look at the issue of infrastructure in the North- East. I will once again call on the Federal Government that the issue of Mambila hydropower project (3,500 megawatts) should be looked at as a matter of urgency.

Without this power, we will not indeed have any meaningful development,” Darius said. In response, Zulum expressed appreciation to the delegation for their visit.