BOKO HARAM:PDP Govs Tells FG To Change Its Tactics

MINNA — EIGHTEEN governors under the aegis of
Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum,
yesterday, took a critical appraisal of the security
situation in the country with the Boko Haram killing
and maiming of innocent people almost on a daily
basis in the North Eastern part of the country
unchallenged.
They urged the Federal Government to change its
tactics of fighting the insurgents.
PDP governors made the appeal on a day President
Goodluck Jonathan and Senate President, David
Mark called for prayers to overcome the nation’s
security challenges.
The Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, on its part,
announced that it had set up a new unit, the Border
Patrol Corps, to patrol the nation’s land borders,
especially in the North-East, to stem attacks by
insurgents.
This was even as a Senator representing Borno
Central Senatorial District claimed that over 100,000
residents of the district had been killed by Boko
Haram.
The PDP Governors Forum, after its meeting in
Minna, Niger State, yesterday, particularly
condemned the recent killings of innocent students
in Yobe State. The forum, therefore, urged the
security agencies to change their tactics towards
containing the insurgency.
People gather on March 2, 2014 near the wreckage
at the scene where two explosions rocked a
crowded neigbourhood in Maiduguri’s Gomaris
district on the evening of March 1. At least 35
people were killed following two explosions in a
crowded neighbourhood of Nigeria’s restless
northeastern city of Maiduguri, a stronghold of Boko
Haram Islamists, police said March 2. “We are still
counting. So far we have counted 35 bodies. Our
men are still working with rescue workers at the
scene,” Borno state police commissioner Lawal
Tanko said. AFP PHOTO /
Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and
Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio,
said though the forum appreciated efforts of the
security agencies in containing the crisis so far, it
held that there was the need for them to look more
inward by changing their tactics in confronting the
crisis.
He said: “The forum appreciates and commends
efforts of the security agencies in fighting the
insurgency but we urge them as a matter of
urgency to change their tactics to get rid of these
insurgents.”
The governors then symphatized with parents and
families of the innocent children who were murdered
in cold blood.
On national confab
Governor Akpabio, who read the communique
shortly after the meeting, said the forum also
commended the President on the bold step taken on
the national conference coming up soon and urged
delegates to the conference to put national interest
above their personal desires.
The communique said: “This forum strongly
identifies with our President on the forthcoming
national conference and notes with satisfaction the
zeal and enthusiasm shown by Nigerians in
participating in the conference.
“We urge all delegates to the confab to put national
interest above all other considerations during the
deliberations.”
Governors of Jigawa, Katsina, Benue, Cross River,
Abia, Bayelsa, Kogi, Bauchi, Kaduna, Gombe, Ebonyi
and that of Niger, the host, were present while
Sokoto, Taraba, Adamawa, Delta and Nasarawa
were represented by their deputies.
Jonathan, Mark call for prayers
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan, weekend,
expressed the Federal Government’s readiness to
stop the acts of terrorism perpetrated by the Boko
Haram sect in the North-Eastern part of the
country.
The President, who stated this at the 2014 maiden
edition of the Catholic Bishops Conference of
Nigeria, CBCN, annual summit with the theme
‘Church and State Partnership in Providing Quality
Education for the Nigerian People’ decried the
deterioration of values and morals owing to poor
educational policies.
Jonathan assured on government’s efforts to
confront the challenge of insurgency in the country,
while urging the gathering to pray for Nigeria to
overcome her current problems.
He said: “I urge you to pray for our dear country to
speedily overcome the current challenges we face,
especially insurgency, terrorism and the heinous
killings