Insecurity: Govt Must Match Words With Action, Says Ndume

Amid widespread outrage over last week’s killing of dozens of residents of Ngoshe in Borno State and the abduction of more than 100 women and children by Boko Haram, former Senate Leader Ali Ndume has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to match words with deeds on the declared security emergency.

The Borno South senator made the appeal at the weekend in a statement. Boko Haram, together with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), carried out coordinated attacks last Wednesday in Ngoshe community in Gwoza local government area, killing soldiers, the town’s chief imam and several community elders.

Media reports say the militants first attacked a military base belonging to the 82 Division Task Force Battalion before storming the community and an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp.

President Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency last November and ordered additional recruitment into the Armed Forces. Ndume, who represents the affected area in the Senate, urged the president to order sustained clearance operations in havens used by insurgents — including Lake Chad, Sambisa Forest and the Mandara Mountains — from which the attackers allegedly staged the Ngoshe assault.

He also called for regular briefings to keep Nigerians informed of efforts to tackle banditry and insurgency across the three northern zones. “The government should walk the talk on the emergency by engaging in coordinated and sustained operations against targets, especially in the North East,” he said. “They should carry out consistent clearance operations in Lake Chad, Sambisa Forest and the Mandara, because the recent attacks were well coordinated by the insurgents.

“For example, the Ngoshe massacre was carried out by insurgents from the Mandara Mountains assisted by others from Sambisa and Lake Chad, using known routes including the Mandara, Lake Chad and Sambisa.

“Since the President has declared a state of emergency, he should have a situation room in the Villa and use it to brief Nigerians directly. They want to hear from him from time to time. Nigeria also deserves an air component centre in the three northern geopolitical zones with attack helicopters deployed to those areas.”

He commended the military for their intervention in Ngoshe, “even though it came late.”

Ndume reiterated his call for front‑loading security budgets to speed up procurement of arms and ammunition, expressing concern that current military allocations are inadequate given the sophisticated weapons seen among terrorist groups. “The Nigerian Army budget is insignificant compared with what is needed — that’s less than 10% of what is required — and it should be front‑loaded. The President should ensure security agencies’ budgets are front‑loaded. Even if we cannot purchase attack helicopters outright, we should consider hiring them to deploy to black‑spot areas.”