Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, has attributed the long-drawn battle to rout insurgency in the North-east to sabotage.

The governor spoke as the military high command said it had taken delivery of new weapons to be deployed in the North-east to fight the insurgency.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has also said it would deploy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in Katsina, Zamfara and Gombe States in its renewed determination to combat armed bandits and terrorists in the North-west and North-east.

Four Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) have, however, advised the federal government to focus on the rehabilitation of the victims of insurgency, the majority of whom are currently living as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in various camps scattered across Nigeria, rather than give succour to repentant insurgents.

The war on Boko Haram has been on for over a decade and despite huge budgetary allocations and claims of victory by the military, the war still rages.

The attack on the convoy of the Borno State governor last week by suspected members of a faction of Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) in Baga had fuelled suspicion of sabotage.

The governor had expressed surprise at the attack on him, saying he was told the area was secured by the military authorities before he embarked on the trip to Baga.

Speaking yesterday to two of his colleagues, Governors Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa) who represented the Progressives Governors Forum on a solidarity visit to him, Zulum warned President Muhammadu Buhari of sabotage by those involved in fighting terrorism in the North-east.

He added that this was the reason there is no end in sight yet to the war on insurgency in the North-east.

He accused some people of trying to frustrate the efforts of the federal government in ending the insurgency, adding that Buhari needs to know the truth.

He said: “Let me also re-echo my previous position with respect to the level of insurgency in Borno State. I earlier said that the gravity of the insurgency cannot be compared with what had happened between 2011 to 2015, and 2015 to date. Yes, it’s true. The president has done well.

“But there’s sabotage in the system that will not allow insurgency to end. The president has to know this very important point. When he came to Maiduguri two months ago, I said so because between 2011 and 2015, at a time, almost about 22 LGAs were under the insurgents; and out of the four main roads that lead to Maiduguri, only one was functional.”

He called on the president to examine the security situation in the region critically, to ensure the efforts of his administration are no longer undermined.
The governor told his colleagues that he has come to know that the military has taken over the farmlands of residents.

He said there was no justification for this, stressing that the residents displaced by insurgency should not have been prevented from returning to their ancestral homes.

Zulum said: “There is one very important question that we need to ask: Why is the insurgency not ending? There’s sabotage in the system and there’s a need for the president to examine the current situation with a view to resolving it.

“We have a huge population and people do not have access to their agricultural lands, and poverty is one of the causes of insurgency. Why are you not allowing people to go back to their ancestral lands so that they will go and earn their living?

“A situation where our Nigerian military are farming the lands; denying access to the common man to farm; what justification do they have for not allowing our people to go back to their ancestral homes?”

Earlier, Bagudu had said they came to the state to sympathise with Zulum and to congratulate him for escaping death.

He described the governor as hardworking and someone appreciated by all.
He added that all governors are with him and are ready to support him in the onerous task of ending the insurgency.

On hand to receive the visiting governors were the state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Kadafur; the former governor of the state, Senator Kashim Shettima, as well as Senator Ali Ndume and members of the State Executive Council.