Senator representing southern Borno senatorial district at the National Assembly, Ali Ndume, has confirmed that the majority of the 40 farmers that were killed in the recent attack in Dumba area of Kukawa, in Kukawa local government area of the state are from Gwoza local government area.
In an interview with LEADERSHIP, the senator who represents Gwoza said five of the farmers from Gwoza who survived the attack revealed the situation to him when they visited his house after the attack to brief him on the incident.
Ndume who listed the survivors that visited him as Shuaibu Ali, Bana Saleh, Yusuf Shamaya, Bukar Warda and Bukar Mala , said the Gwoza people during this period when Lake Chad is receding usually go there to plant beans and maize, adding that they were there last year too without any issue.
” They killed about 40 people, mostly from my local government area. They normally go there for their livelihoods. I spoke with all of them when they came to my house so that I could get first-hand information. It is very unfortunate, ” he said.
Senator Ndume said the armed forces’ instruction to farmers not to go beyond certain boundaries in their farming activities is tantamount to ceding a particular area to terrorists.
” I want to reiterate that the instruction by the armed forces that the farmers should not cross the red line, what they do is that you don’t go beyond certain line. But if we continue to say don’t go to certain area, it means you are indirectly conceding such area to the terrorists which to me is not right.
” I still want to repeat that the solution to this is to have ICT operational base where the soldiers are, so that they can be doing constant surveillance using drones. There are drones that can go between 20km to 40km . If ISWAP can be using drones, why can’t Nigerian Army use superior and sophisticated drones that surpass that of the terrorists.
” The solution to all these is investment in security in terms of training, equipment, motivation and ammunition. The Nigerian Army can defeat the terrorists, but they don’t have equipment. In all the nine local government areas of southern Borno that I toured during the end of the year, I didn’t see any of the soldiers with brand new AK- 47, not to mention the brand new AK- 49. If you give them enough equipment and training, they will conquer the terrorists.
” And when I mean training, I mean training that you don’t give a drone to someone who will go and do the Sokoto or Kaduna erroneous bombing and kill innocent civilians. Our soldiers need sophisticated training. I totally commiserate with the victims of the Dumba killings. I equally condemn the attack, ” Senator Ndume said.
He commended the Nigerian Army and urged them to embed cyber wizards in their operations.
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