Ndume: Why insurgency will continue in north-east

Ali Ndume, chairman, senate committee on army, says the problem of insurgency will continue in the north-east because of inadequate resources and soldiers.

Boko Haram insurgents have sustained attacks on communities in the north-east region, causing thousands of citizens to flee their homes.

Borno and Adamawa are worst hit by the insurgency.

Speaking with the Punch on Wednesday, Ndume said the insurgency will persist unless the federal government deploys adequate resources and increases the number of soldiers in the area.

“The challenge that the military have now is lack of resources and inadequate personnel.  As long as the resources are not deployed in terms of what they would need, we would continue to have this (insurgency) challenge,” he said.

“In an operation like this, we have only 30, 000 soldiers on ground which is grossly inadequate.  They (federal government) have to do something urgently about that.”

Ndume said a lot of persons have been displaced, and that civilians in the affected communities have fled the area.

But he added that the government was making efforts to ensure the return of displaced citizens.

“The civilians ran away because of the fears of what would happen to them. They refused to come back.  The governor is now appealing to the military to secure the areas so that the residents could return,” he said.

“The residents of the affected local government areas in Borno State, taken over by the military following the Boko Haram attacks, have not started returning but the government is making efforts to ensure the return of the people.”

The senator decried the abduction of Lawan Andimi, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika local government area in Adamawa by Boko Haram on Thursday.

He asked the military to do everything necessary to ensure that he is released and that normalcy returns in the affected communities and states.