- Northeast joins clamour; Zulum wants mercenaries to battle terrorism
Two major demands were made at the recent meeting of the six Northeast governors in Bauchi, Bauchi State: calls for creation of state police to assist in improving security in the region, and for the use of mercenaries in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists.
Speaking at the conference, the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, canvassed for subnational policing: “Instead of playing the ostrich, we must accept the fact that our over-centralised internal security arrangement is an obsolete tool for tackling the monstrous life and death scenario playing out in the country, especially our region.”
And the governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, in his argument for use of mercenaries in fighting terrorism said, “The Federal Government has to look into the possibility of involving mercenaries, with a view to ending this insurgency because it seems that the commitment is not there. Therefore, to end this insurgency, we must be committed enough; we must bring in external support to ensure that mercenaries are hired to end this insurgency.”
Although on several occasions in the past, the Borno State governor had called for more commitment in the fight against insurgency in his state, this is the first time that the six governors of the Northeast openly asked for two major changes to the country’s efforts to confront various security challenges in the Northeast and, by extension, the whole country. The desperation in the call of the governors is reminiscent of the words of the Chairman of the Southwest Governors Forum and Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu: “The primary responsibility of any government is the security of lives and property of its citizens…There can be no other way if we are indeed serious about securing lives and property.”
With the demand by the Northeast governors, each of the six regions has, through state actors and non-state actors, urged the Federal Government to migrate from the centralised police system to other systems, including the establishment of state police. The desperation caused by deterioration in the country’s security and stability seems to be reaching fever pitch and should be given urgent attention by the federal executive and legislative branches of government. Similarly, the call on the Federal Government to hire mercenaries in the fight against terrorism is on the mark. In a country, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, that already has over 30,000 people killed and about three million displaced in one decade of Boko Haram, it is not unusual for patriotic leaders in the region directly affected by the violence to call for desperate efforts to address desperate problems. Historically, Nigeria used French mercenaries during the civil war. In truth, mercenaries from South Africa were first used toward the end of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when the fight against terrorism made noticeable progress. Even during the early part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term when it was possible to claim technical defeat of the terror organisation, it was believed that South African mercenaries, as trainers, were also at work.
Undoubtedly, the need to re-assert the country’s sovereignty led to premature disengagement of mercenaries during Buhari’s first term, but the speed of response to terrorism in the last few years had been worryingly slow and could be more so with the upsurge of hydra-headed security problems in many parts of the country. After 11 years of Boko Haram, it must have strained the nation financially and the citizens emotionally enough to make engaging mercenaries deserve a hearing at this time.
The damage to the country’s economy and the anxiety that Boko Haram insurgency has caused for citizens are too significant to overlook as the country enters the second decade of the terror war. Nigeria’s military had made in the last 60 years too many contributions to the cause of peace in other countries for it to feel too shy to engage mercenaries versed in asymmetrical war tactics to join forces with our military.
We commend the governors of the Northeast for calling for reforms of the police system to ensure domestic stability and for request for external support in the fight against terror. We urge the governments of the Northeast and other regions calling for reform of the country’s security to appeal to their state assemblies to send resolutions to the National Assembly on the importance of a new approach to security across the country.
