By Ishaya Ibrahim
Information minister, Lai Mohammed, has blamed Nigeria’s insecurity on the global community for refusing it weapons to defeat the Boko Haram terrorists.
In Makurdi, the Benue State capital, Mohammed said Nigeria is now at the mercy of the terrorists because of the lack of critical weapons to defeat them.
On November 29, more than 100 Borno farmers were killed in a single attack by the terrorists.
Nigerians say as an opposition spokesman against the government of Goodluck Jonathan, Lai Mohammed would have spurned at the government for making excuses for its failures.
At the early days of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, Lai Mohammed dismissed ex-President Jonathan’s claim that the improvement of security at the time was as a result of weapons his government acquired which were delivered to the new government.
He said: “The weapons, munition and equipment which the former President said he bought were refurbished and lacked the basic components and spare parts. Additionally, the ammunition bought for both high calibre and small weapons have mostly expired, incompatible with weapons and grossly inadequate.
He said the improvement in Nigeria’s security situation at the time was the impact of credible and dedicated leadership which the Muhammadu Buhari’s government was offering.
But in Makurdi, more than four years after Lai Mohammed’s security assessment of Jonathan’s era, he appeared to have changed gear.
Hear him: “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.
“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.”
