By Ibrahim Toafeek
The Coalition of Nigerian Youth for Peace and Development has said for there to be total victory against insurgency and banditry in the country, there must a sincere regional collaboration between the Nigerian troops and the troops of the neighbouring countries.
The group was reacting to recent attacks by the insurgents in Borno State and bandits in Katsina State leaving scores dead, livestock and several other properties destroyed.
The Coalition in a statement signed by its Organising Secretary, Josiah Useni and made available to journalists explained that the pattern of attacks has proven that the surviving insurgents and bandits from the military onslaught flee and regroup in the neighbouring countries to later launch attack on soft spots.
“Our studies of the war against insurgency and banditry have revealed that the Nigerian military has not enjoyed the best of collaboration from the neighbouring countries. The latest statements credited to Borno State governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum on Wednesday when he visited Fanduma Kolomdi village in Gubio local government area, where the Boko Haram terrorists attacked that the only solution to end the massacre is by dislodging the insurgents in the shores of Lake Chad says it all.
“The Nigeria military has consistently carried out both land and air strikes destroying Boko Haram Terrorists hideouts and neutralising several of their fighters. However, the surviving terrorists are regrettably not been resisted in the shores of Lake Chad thereby giving them room to regroup and re-launch attacks. To permanently tame the insurgents will require collaborative regional efforts.
“We hereby urge the Nigerian military to undertake a final onslaught that should put an end to the insurgents in the shore of the lake Chad”, the statement noted.
Continuing, the CSO explained that there was an urgent need for the scattered settlements to come together as larger communities for more effective policing of the area.
“We are strongly convince that the war against insurgency is been won. All that is required at this point is tact from all stakeholders. This is where we urge the media to be dispassionate in her reportage of the war against insurgency in the country. Regrettably, our observation has shown that some section of the media is tilted more to reporting the insurgents more than the military.
“We call on this section of the media to exhibit patriotism and desist from encouraging these attacks and dampening the morale of the Nigerian people with such wild and emotional headlines or news”, the statement noted.
