Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Monday, in Makurdi, the Benue State capital advanced the reason why Boko Haram activities may continue unabated, saying that Nigeria has been denied access to acquire adequate weapons to fight the terrorists.
Speaking to journalists after he paid a courtesy visit on the state governor, Samuel Ortom, at the government house, Mohammed said “Nigerians will remain at the mercy of terroristsâ€.
The minister described the killing of rice farmers as ‘unfortunate’ but noted that to decimate the terrorist group, the country needed more support from global partners as well as acquiring adequate weapons to fight 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.
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.â€
Governor Samuel Ortom commended the federal government for the deployment of Operation Whirl Stroke to the state.
