President Goodluck Jonathan has said that his administration is working round the clock to identify the external sponsors of the fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram based on the available clues they'v had so far.
He said that,the recent large scale attack in parts of Maiduguri, Borno State, including the Air Force Base, had further confirmed the government’s suspicion that the sect enjoyed international backing.
He said this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria and France 24 Radio at the close of a two-day summit on peace and security in Africa, hosted by President Francois Hollande in France on Saturday.
Jonathan, who said the insurgents arrived in Maiduguri with between 15 and 20 vehicles, each mounted with rocket launchers,added that he had approved N1bn for the rehabilitation of detention camps of insurgents across the country.
He stated that Nigeria is seeking the collaboration with the friends of the nation to unravel the foreign sponsors of the insurgents.
He also said that he believes that we would be getting a lot of assistance(both nationally and internationally) in respect to the security challenges we are having
And that they(FG) have not been able to pin down the sources and that is why he is pleading for an assistance from friends both nationally and internationally so that, they would collectively work together to identify the source of their funding.
In his words: “A terror on any part of the world is a terror on all of us.”
Jonathan also said Maiduguri attack clearly showed that the sect’s operations had gone beyond its classification as a local militia group.
“Initially, we felt that they were local and as such, some people advocated that because of poverty, these locals carried weapons against the State. So you expect that sophistication will be minimal and you will be able to contain it easily.
“But looking at the calibre of weapons they have, you will find out that they have gone beyond the local expectation. For instance, this last attack on Maiduguri, they came with about 15 to 20 Hilux vehicles and each mounted with two to four rocket launchers.
“They were over 100 and some of them were carrying assault rifles and other weapons. The question then is that, where do they get the weapons? Definitely, these weapons cannot come from the locals, they are coming from somewhere.’’
He said while military operations would continue in the affected parts of the county in order to protect lives and property, his administration had not foreclosed the option of dialogue with the sect .
The President said that the state of emergency declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states had helped tremendously in restoring sanity.
He recalled that before the emergency rule, even the Federal Capital Territory was not safe having had its share of terrorist acts with attacks carried out on the United Nations building, the police headquarters, a military market and a newspaper house.
He said the nation had now reached a point that the challenges were now in Borno and Yobe states,that though there are still occastional attacks, the emergency rule have defnately worked
“Even Adamawa , the third state that the emergency rule covers, within this period, there are no issues unlike before that there were repeated killings and bombings.
The President also said he had yet to receive a comprehensive report on a French priest that was kidnapped in Northern Cameroon and reported to have been taken to Nigeria.
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