Some teenagers who are the offsprings of the dreaded Boko Haram sect have been well trained to handle sophisticated AK-47 rifles,governor of Borno state,Babagana Zulum,has said.
He aid the development portends grave generational danger for the country if it is not well handled.
He said that over 100,000 women have been turned to widows on account of the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in the last twelve years.
He also told reporters he was personally attacked for over 50 times by the deadly group.
He disclosed these on Tuesday when he met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
He said:”Some are teenagers, below the ages of 11, 12, who can handle AK-47 and there’s one very important thing that Nigerians need to understand; if this issue of Boko Haram, insurgency, is not resolved, I believe it will never end because it is a generation. Those that came out from the bush you can see one person has two wives three wives in the bush, he’s having 10 children. These children are well trained to behave in such manner. What is this manner? Carrying AK-47 and it’s a generation”
Therefore, I think it is the best possible option for us to see that we resolve this issue by involving the federal government because the federal government is a major stakeholder. The President has agreed to provide the leadership.
“We can also involve the international community and other stakeholders; the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is very key. The Defense Ministry, the army, the Police, DSS and others are also very important to develop a framework that will ensure sustainability of this programme.
Right now, I can’t say anything, but we are on it and after we have concluded the programme, the framework shall be known to each and every person.
“The way forward is that we shall immediately call a stakeholders’ meeting in Borno State, comprising of the Minister of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Attorney-General, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and most importantly, the NIA also because we have some certain foreign involvement in the matter, the traditional rulers and especially the victims, so that we can come up with any solutions, far reaching recommendations that can be programmed in a structured manner, to ensure amicable resolution of this issue.
“I think it’s not right for me to immediately say that that is what we’re doing, but I think this is the first thing that we need to do, then after this the recommendations can also be forwarded to the President, but the most important thing is that I, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, the governor of Borno State, I’ve been in this cycle for a long time. I’m the pioneer Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement.
“I ’ve been in this… for the last 11 or 12 years. I was attacked for more than 40 to 50 times, I know the magnitude of this problem. More than 100,000 people were killed, I’m telling you. We have more than 100,000 orphans now, we have more than 100,000 windows now. Therefore I’m in total support of this ongoing surrender by the insurgents, we support them and those have surrendered shall be dealt with according to the extant rules and regulations.
“We have international conventions that stipulated how we can handle them. There is no law that clearly stipulated that they should be killed, but we have to be very careful in managing this crisis.
“Most importantly, the victims shall not be left behind, I want to support the victims. Those whose parents were killed, the federal government gave them… to help them, but those that have surrendered, then we can look into the possibility of engaging them and then see how to train them and how to streamline them into the system. Not now, in the later stage.
“Right now, we have about 2600 in our custody, but mind you, this number is inclusive of their children and their wives, including their families. So, as I said before, among these people that have surrendered, some are innocent. We started profiling them with the Nigerian Army and the DSS so that those that have not committed a heinous crime, especially the teenagers, the woman that haven’t done anything, we can find an immediate way of resetting them. Those that were deeply involved also, we shall look into the possibility of training them so that at a later stage, federal government and the state government will decide to keep them to address the issue holistically.
“The good news is that the Nigerian Army is providing enough support for us, enough cooperation from the Nigerian Army, from the DSS and the Nigeria Police. We thank God for this one, and we thank God for Mr. President”.
