By Kolawole Ojebisi
Senator Ali Ndume has advised President Tinubu to consider hiring mercenaries in his administration’s effort to crush terrorists to smithereens in Borno State and the entire Northern region.
Ndume, who is the senator representing Borno South in the red chamber, referred to this hired hands as “military contractors” who could help to wipe the remnants of Boko Haram and other insurgents in the bedeviled region.
While hailing the efforts and gallant performance of the military and Civilian JTF, Ndume stressed that they are poorly equipped and battle-weary to execute the Herculean task of decimating the local extremists and their allies.
The lawmaker noted that a collaboration between the Civilian JTF who know the lay of the land and the hired military contractors armed with formidable weapons may signal the end of insurgency.
“All across the world, governments hire the services of military contractors to engage in certain places. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can consider this as a short measure. These contractors will work with our military and Civilian JTF, who understand the terrain.”
“These contractors will come with their equipment and military hardware. In a very short time, they’ll eliminate those Boko Haram terrorists. The contractors can also be used to eliminate those bandits operating in the North West.
“Over a period, the federal government can now recruit youths to join the military and raise the number to at least one million. But in the interim, I think the President should consider this option of hiring military contractors,” Ndume said in a statement.
Recall that Ndume was heavily criticised recently by even members of the All Progressives Congress for saying Tinubu was caged and unaware of the happenings around him.
The lawmaker’s opinion of Tinubu led to his removal from the key posts he was holding in the red chamber, particularity his position as the chief whip.
Ndume has been an advocate for hiring mercenaries to tackle terrorists in the North since the reign of President Muhammadu Buhari
The former chief whip has said several times that the Boko Haram members have infiltrated every nook and cranny of the North with informants in the military.
His comment comes after Tinubu claimed in his Independence anniversary speech that his administration is winning the war against banditry, kidnapping and allied insurgency in the North and Nigeria as a whole.
Hours after making the claim, Boko Haram terrorists launched a fresh attack in Ngoshe, Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno, where they slaughtered six farmers and abducted five others including women.
