insurgency<\/a> in the country, saying it could no longer tolerate blackmail in any guise.<\/p>\nThe government made the position following repeated calls by governors of the North-East states, led by Borno State governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and other stakeholders that mercenaries be engaged to help defeat terrorists.<\/p>\n
Addressing journalists at the weekly presidential media briefing at the Council Chamber of State House, Abuja, yesterday, National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno, retd, who said the current service chiefs will deploy all necessary force to deal with terrorists and bandits operating in the country, also said dialogue with them suggests weakness and incapacity on the part of government.<\/p>\n
According to him \u201cThe President\u2019s view and directive is that we will not engage mercenaries. When this administration came in, it\u2019s true, we had these mercenaries helping out in the North-East. But the directive of the Commander-in-Chief is that we do not engage mercenaries when we have our own people to deal with this problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is basically a presidential directive. And there are so many issues when you come to the issue of mercenaries. It has to do with the issue of national pride also. I know you\u2019d say can pride be more of a concern than our security? I do understand that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what we are looking at here is that we have the resources, it\u2019s just misapplication or under-utilisation that has affected our ability to deal with these people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NSA said the government will not succumb to blackmail and the use of criminals by proxies to harass innocent citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile government is not averse to talking with these entities, it also has to fully apply its weight. You can\u2019t (negotiate) with people who are unreliable and who will continue to hurt society. We will apply the full weight of government to deal with these criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not people looking for anything that is genuine or legitimate, they\u2019re just out to take calculated measures to inflict pain and violence on innocent people. We must deal with them the way they need to be dealt with. We will fully assert the government\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also focusing on the associated dimensions of banditry and terrorism: Illegal drugs, the flow of small arms and light weapons, and illegal mining in places like Zamfara. These are some of the scenarios fueling the violence and we are already tackling them decisively.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment wants to use military assets to eliminate them but if along the line, they come out, good. It paints the picture of weakness, incapacity,\u2019\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n
The NSA also disclosed that between March and December 2020, the military successfully took out 2,403 insurgents in the North East.<\/p>\n
On why the government was silent on Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric, who had been calling on government to grant insurgents amnesty, Monguno said he met and interacted with him briefly in Kaduna at the zonal town hall meeting with service chiefs but noted that he was still waiting for the cleric to come forth as he promised to help.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cSheikh Gumi is doing what he\u2019s doing because he believes in what he\u2019s doing. He\u2019s a Nigerian and under the constitution, he can talk to anybody. He can deal with anybody.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met with him when I went with the service chiefs to Kaduna, and we spoke generally during the meeting and he resolved to help government. We are waiting for him. That\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said the recent changes made by President Buhari to the security architecture \u201cgives us a ray of hope that things will be adjusted, so that whatever we do regarding securing Nigeria will be in conformity with the aspirations of the people.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
On external support, the NSA said: \u201cThere\u2019s a Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit, comprising US, UK, France, working with us and our neighbours. They\u2019ve been supporting us with intelligence. For us, what\u2019s most important is acting on the intelligence\u2014that\u2019s why we\u2019re investing in equipment and assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the new service chiefs, Monguno said: \u201cThe new direction of government is to come out with full force. Government will not allow itself to be blackmailed by any group or individual who thinks he can hide under the surface and use proxies to deal a fatal blow on innocent people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to assure you categorically and unequivocally that government is going to apply full weight to deal with these criminals until such a time that they vacate the shores of this country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn dealing with this issue, government realizes the need for tangential, auxiliary organizations to key into both the issue of drugs coming in and smuggling of arms and light weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result of what I said about delivering maximum force \u2014 the weight of our security organizations does that obviate the need for us to use soft approach? We are ready to dialogue with these people but for us, it\u2019s not a priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be singing the same song everyday and these people are unreliable. They are ignoble, they are ready to undermine whatever agreement we have had, so, because of that, if the opportunity avails itself, of course, we will talk with responsible people from the side of those people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know how to categorize them because it\u2019s not as if they are looking for something you can point a finger at, it\u2019s not some kind of nationalistic situation, something you can actually identify and relate to.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are just a murderous group of individuals who are hooked up on drugs and I don\u2019t know why anybody wants to negotiate with these people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who have been negotiating with them in the first place, don\u2019t you think they should actually, if there is that sincerity of purpose, talk with the right people in government? So, for negotiations, it is there, we would see what happens if it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government yesterday ruled out engaging mercenaries to assist Nigeria in the fight against insurgency, which has continued for more than a decade. It also vowed to come out in full force to fight insurgency in the country, saying it could no longer tolerate blackmail in any guise. The government made the position following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":4255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[210,699,2254,767],"class_list":["post-4245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-bandits","tag-insurgency","tag-mercenaries","tag-nsa"],"yoast_head":"\n
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