Governor James Ngilari of Adamawa State, yesterday, cried out to President Goodluck Jonathan to save his state from being overrun by Boko Haram insurgents who have already taken over five local governments and are advancing to other towns.
Governor Ngilari took his case to the Presidential Villa, Abuja on a day Boko Haram renamed another town it captured as part of its Islamic caliphate. It also commenced full enforcement of Sharia law in its areas of control.
President Goodluck Jonathan has, however, assured that in spite of the present security challenges, Nigeria will remain unbroken even as he promised free and fair general elections next year.
Ngilari, who spoke with State Hose correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Jonathan in Abuja yesterday, disclosed that five local governments in Adamawa State have been taken over by Boko Haram insurgents and pleaded with the military authorities to deploy more troops to the state.
Ngilari said that failure to boost military presence in the state may mean that the terrorist group will completely overrun it, noting that the security situation in the state remained fluid and required a more urgent intervention by the Federal Government.
According to him: “The security situation in Adamawa is very dicey right now and we are only trying to do our best to manage the situation. We are praying that it will improve, but it is really something to worry about”.
Speaking on the number of towns being occupied by the terrorists, the governor said: “I can talk of my entire senatorial district, Mubi senatorial district. Five local governments have been overrun; Gombi was taken and I just got a report now that perhaps they are on the outskirts of Shanli.
“There is a semblance of movement in that area. Really, we need a lot of intervention. We need to move more troops to secure the state. Really, it is a big challenge.”
The governor played down the seizure of the home town of the Chief of Defence Staff, saying that the issue of insurgency was much more than taking one person’s home town.
He stated: “We shouldn’t reduce this issue of the insurgency to simply the taking over of the house of the defence chief. There are a whole lot of things that make the challenge of insecurity. What about the problem of unemployment? You know it is a whole long story. We don’t just reduce it to the taking over of the house of the defence chief. I think it is more than that. Absolutely it is a challenge. We look up to God, God is there, there is nothing impossible for Him.
“We will do our best, but it is not something that we should leave in the hands of government. Everybody has a role to play in terms of giving out information timely, in terms of convincing people who are involved. They live with us, they are not from planet Mars, they are part and parcel of the society.”
Despite the dismal picture painted by the governor, he expressed optimism that the insurgency would soon be a thing of the past. “I believe that Nigeria will really overcome, but I don’t know the time frame. Anything that affects any part of Nigeria affects the rest. We must all see how we can tame this monster,” he added.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram has renamed Gwoza, in Borno which it captured in July as Darul Hikma, or “House of Wisdom” according to the residents who fled the area. The terrorists last week renamed Mubi, the second largest town in Adamawa as Madinatul Islam, which means City of Islam in Arabic.
Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a video released in August declared that he had made Gwoza part of a caliphate.
“They have given new names to Gwoza and Mubi, which they say are now part of their Islamic state,” said Ahmad Maishanu, who fled Mubi with his mother on Wednesday to Yola.
Tijjani Kalifa, who left Mubi on Monday and has contacts in Gwoza, also reported that Boko Haram was forcing people in both towns to use the new names.
Both witnesses said all the churches in Mubi had been burnt down and that Islamists were patrolling the streets regularly, with no sign of resistance from the security services.
The residents also said the insurgents have started implementing Sharia law in the towns they captured. Maishanu said in Mubi that Boko Haram members chopped off the hands of 10 men accused of theft last Friday and burnt down churches. In a video released on October 2, Boko Haram showed the stoning to death of a man accused of adultery, a man having his right hand cut off for theft and a young man and woman given 100 lashes each for sex outside marriage. – Vanguard.
