Boko Haram: Nigeria Will Continue To Be At The Mercy Of Terrorists Until… Lai Mohammed

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has submitted that Nigeria has been finding it difficult to fully overcome Boko Haram and other insurgents because it has not been able to acquire needed weapons to combat the insurgents.

The Minister who spoke on Monday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital added that the country may continue to be at the mercy of these terrorists until it gets the needed global support to acquire equipment and platforms to effectively wage the war.

Mohammed made the submission while addressing journalists after he paid a courtesy call to Governor Samuel Ortom at the Benue State government house.

He declared that Boko Haram and other terrorists enjoy international backing and Nigeria also needs international support and cooperation to tackle them.

The minister said, “When we talk about terrorism, people don’t seem to appreciate that terrorism is not a local issue, it is a global issue and there is no part of the world that doesn’t experience its own pocket of terrorism.

“But you must also note that we are dealing with terrorists who are financed globally and we also need more support from global partners, for instance, Nigeria has made an attempt to acquire a better and more effective platform to deal with terrorists but for one reason or the other we have been denied this platform, these weapons and without adequate weapons or platform we remain at the mercy of terrorists.

Commenting on the recent Borno attack by Boko Haram where at least 43 farmers were killed, the minister further said, “You see fighting terrorists is not a joke because what actually happened in Borno State is unfortunate but you must also look at the strategy of the terrorists.

“Terrorists use media and publicity as oxygen, so when they go on this kind of mindless killing of people. It is not that the government is not doing enough, terrorism whether in Afghanistan or anywhere in the world has the same concept, a group of people who are extremist in their thoughts who don’t think that you and me should be alive.”